Biodiversity & Conservation

Peacock worm - Sabella pavonina

Sabella pavonina

Image Sue Daly - Three Sabella pavonina with tentacles fanned out. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Sabella pavonina recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

Sightings Have you seen Sabella pavonina?
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Sabella pavonina 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 Savigny, 1820
Recent synonyms Sabella penicillus
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Widely distributed, and locally abundant, around all British coasts.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on stones in sand and mud, at and below low water.
Text page icon Description A long, slender, many segmented worm up to 30 cm long and only 4mm in width. It lives permanently in a smooth, flexible, muddy tube that projects up to 10 cm above the sand. The head projects from the tube during feeding and bears a daisy-like crown of feathery tentacles in two groups. The body can be yellowish-orange or greyish purple in colour and the crown is banded in various colours.
Identifying features
  • A long, thin worm, up to 30 cm in length and 4 mm in width, with many segments.
  • The body is orange to dull purple in colour.
  • Conspicuous crown of feathery tentacles banded in red, brown and purple, withdrawn into the tube when not feeding.
  • Chaetae small, slender and unobtrusive.
  • The muddy tube is smooth and flexible and projects up to 10cm above the substrate.
Additional information icon Additional information Identification of the family Sabellidae to species level depends on the fine structure of the parapods (see Fauchald, 1977).

This review can be cited as follows:

Penny Avant 2008. Sabella pavonina. Peacock worm. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4274>