Biodiversity & Conservation

Parchment worm - Chaetopterus variopedatus

Chaetopterus variopedatus

Image Jack Sewell - Parchment worm removed from its tube, showing ventral surfaces of body. Image width ca 30 cm.
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Distribution map

Chaetopterus variopedatus recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Chaetopterus variopedatus is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Annelida Segmented worms e.g. ragworms, tubeworms & fanworms
Class Polychaeta Bristleworms, e.g. ragworms, scaleworms, paddleworms, fanworms and tubeworms
Authority (Renier, 1804)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Widely distributed around British coasts, but not recorded on the east coast of England south of the Tees estuary.
Habitat information icon Habitat information The tough permanent tubes are seen in sand and stone or shell gravel from low water to considerable depths, and in deeper water on rock, in fissures in rock and under boulders.
Text page icon Description Chaetopterus variopedatus is a stout worm, up to 25 cm long, that is a filter feeder. It is yellowish or greenish white in colour with mature females becoming pinkish. The body is divided into 3 distinct regions: the short anterior end with an inconspicuous head; a mid region with highly specialized feeding structures; and a longer, regularly segmented hind end with repeating appendages. The worms live permanently in tough, flexible tubes of a whitish parchment-like material. The open end is narrow and protrudes slightly from the substratum. The tube may be up 4 cm in diameter in the middle, its widest part.
Identifying features
  • An irregularly segmented worm, up to 25 cm long, living permanently in a parchment-like tube.
  • Body in 3 distinct regions, a short anterior region, mid region with differing appendages modified for feeding, longer posterior region distinctly segmented.
  • Parts of the body phosphorescent.
  • The tubes protrude slightly from the sand at both ends and are non-ringed, tough and flexible.
Additional information icon Additional information Occasionally other species of polychaete may occupy vacant tubes.

This review can be cited as follows:

Penny Avant 2002. Chaetopterus variopedatus. Parchment worm. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 23/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2948>