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Sabellidae
Natural History
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Sabellids occur on both hard substrates and soft sediments, from equatorial to polar latitudes and from the intertidal to slope depths. Some bore into calcareous substrates such as coral reefs. There are several freshwater taxa among the Sabellidae, including Caobangia (symbiotic in freshwater molluscs but not recorded from Australia) and free-living taxa such as Manayunkia athalassia from Australia.
Sabellids, also known as feather-duster worms, use their tentacular crown to trap suspended particles, both for food and tube building. A few species, however, have been shown to be surface deposit feeders, and further studies may show that this behaviour may prove to be more common, especially those small taxa living on muddy sediments. The tentacular crown is also respiratory and the radioles carry photosensitive eyespots in some taxa (curiously, eyespots are also present on the pygidium in some sabellids).
Some of the small sabellid species may occur in dense aggregations whereas larger species tend to occur as solitary individuals.
Diversity
The Sabellidae are among the most speciose of polychaete families; about 344 species in 39 genera are known world-wide. More than 30 species and 13 genera are known from Australia, but much taxonomic work remains to be done on Australian sabellid collections.
Description | Identification
tips | Natural History | Diversity
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