{{Short description|Species of annelid}} {{Speciesbox | image = Sabella pavonina - Hippocampus hippocampus - Porto Cesareo, Italy (DSC2314M).jpg | image_caption = Peacock worms ''(Sabella pavonina)'' with [[short-snouted seahorse]], Porto Cesareo, Italy | taxon = Sabella pavonina | authority = [[Marie Jules César Savigny|Savigny]], 1820 }}
[[File:DSAC Sound of Mull Peacock Worm.jpg|thumb|Peacock worm in the [[Sound of Mull]] ]]
'''''Sabella pavonina''''', commonly known as the '''peacock worm''', is a marine [[polychaete]] [[worm]] belonging to the family [[Sabellidae]]. They can be found along the coasts of [[Western Europe]] and the [[Mediterranean]]. It is found in shallow, tidal waters with a bed of mud, sand or gravel. It is sometimes found on rocks or [[shipwreck]]s.<ref name=Wells1>{{cite journal | last=Wells | first=G. P. | title=On the behaviour of ''Sabella'' | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences | volume=138 | issue=891 | year=1951 | jstor=82543 | pages=278–299| doi=10.1098/rspb.1951.0023 | pmid=14853971 | bibcode=1951RSPSB.138..278W }}</ref>
It is {{convert|10|-|25|cm|0}} in length. Its body is elongated and divided into 100–600 small [[segment (biology)|segments]]. The head has two fans of 8–45 feathery [[radiole]]s arising from fleshy, semi-circular lobes. The body is mostly grey-green while the radioles are brown, red or purple with darker bands.<ref name=Fish>{{cite book | last=Fish | first=J. D. | title=A Student's Guide to the Seashore | publisher=Springer| year=2012 | pages=172–173| isbn=978-94-011-5888-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRHvCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173}}</ref>
The worm lives inside a smooth tube of fine mud or sand particles held together with [[mucus]]. The tube stands upright with the lower end attached to stones and the upper end protruding from the sea bed. When covered by water, the worm extends its crown out of the tube to feed, using [[cilia]] on the radioles to circulate water through the crown. Small food particles are carried down the radioles to the mouth of the worm, while larger particles are rejected, or cemented with mucus to extend the length of the tube.<ref name=Hayward>{{cite book |last=Hayward |first= Peter J. |title=A Natural History of the Seashore |date=2004 |publisher=Collins |pages=52–53 |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof0000hayw/page/52/}}</ref> The crown is highly sensitive to light and pressure and quickly retracts in response to motion or shadow.<ref name=Hayward/><ref>{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Vernon |title=Sessile Animals of the Sea Shore |date=1990 |publisher=Chapman and Hall |page=117 |isbn=978-0-412-33760-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/sessileanimalsof0000harr/page/116/}}</ref>
''Sabella pavonina'' and other Sabellid worms experience heavy predation by bottom-feeding fish, but are capable of regenerating even when a large part of the tube and the worm inside have been bitten off.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Berrill | first=N. J. | title=Functional Morphology and Development of Segmental Inversion in Sabellid Polychaetes | journal=Biological Bulletin | volume=153 | issue=3 | year=1977 | jstor=1540600 | pages=453–467 [463] | doi=10.2307/1540600 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1540600}}</ref><ref name=Wells2>{{cite journal | last=Wells | first=G. P. | title=The Respiratory Significance of the Crown in the Polychaete Worms ''Sabella'' and ''Myxicola'' | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences | volume=140 | issue=898 | year=1952 | jstor=82713 | pages=70–82 [75]| doi=10.1098/rspb.1952.0045 | pmid=13003913 | bibcode=1952RSPSB.140...70W }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1717 Peacock worm] at Marine Life Information Network *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080319092835/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Sabella_pavonina/ ARKive - images and video] * {{sealifephotos|130967}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1171262}}
[[Category:Sabellida]] [[Category:Annelids of the Atlantic Ocean]] [[Category:Fauna of the Mediterranean Sea]] [[Category:Animals described in 1820]] [[Category:Taxa named by Marie Jules César Savigny]]