Star feather worm
Pomatostegus stellatus
Abildgaard, 1789

Description:
This feather worm has a double fold of radioles that form a U-shaped crown. The opening of the tube has a simple lid (operculum) that consists of a series of discs. The tubes are hard, calcareous. The color of the crown is variable, most common are shades of red, orange, yellow or white. The crown can be almost uniformly colored, or banded.
Size: whole animal up to 10 cm, crowns up to 4 cm.

Habitat:
This feather worm occurs all over the reefs. Tubes usually encased in living coral.
Depth: ranges from 3 m down to 30 m.

Distribution:
Common all over the Caribbean.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Genus Pomatostegus
Species Pomatostegus stellatus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Pomatostegus stellatus (Abildgaard, 1789)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Star feather worm [English]
Star horseshoe worm [English]

Humann, P., 1992. Reef Creature Identification - Florida Caribbean Bahamas, (ed. N. Deloach). New World Publications, Inc., Paramount Miller Graphics, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida.

Voss, G.L., 1976. Seashore life of Florida and the Carribbean. Banyan Books, Inc. Miami, Florida.

You can continue searching for Pomatostegus stellatus on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia