| ANNELIDA : Sabellida : Sabellidae | ANNELID WORMS |
Description: Distinctive crown of white, pink or purple radioles, with dark brown tips, which are joined by a web until the triangular tips. Worm is up to 65 mm long, with 26 pairs of radioles, and lives buried in the sediment in a soft gelatinous tube. Body of worm is a pale orange-brown.
Habitat: Soft sediments down to 30 m or more.
Distribution: Some confusion over true distribution as two species have been recorded as Myxicola infundibulum until relatively recently (Myxicola polychroma only described in 2023).
Similar Species: Historically confused with Myxicola polychroma which was being recorded as a morph of this species. Myxicola polychroma has white tips or tips that are non-differentiated in colour on the radioles. There may be another species of Myxicola present in Britain and Ireland that has a pink or red crown with white tips which is not confirmed to be either of the species mentioned above.
Key Identification Features:
Distribution Map from NBN: Myxicola infundibulum at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.
iNaturalist: Myxicola infundibulum at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.
WoRMS: Myxicola infundibulum at World Register of Marine Species.
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| Picton, B.E., Keatley, L. & Morrow, C.C. (2026). Myxicola infundibulum. (Montagu, 1808). [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland. https://habitas.org/mbdp/species.php?item=P22270. Accessed on 2026-11-01 |