# Sabella pavonina

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Species of annelid

Sabella pavonina Peacock worms (Sabella pavonina) with short-snouted seahorse, Porto Cesareo, Italy Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Annelida Clade: Pleistoannelida Clade: Sedentaria Order: Sabellida Family: Sabellidae Genus: Sabella Species: S. pavonina Binomial name Sabella pavonina Savigny, 1820

Peacock worm in the [Sound of Mull](/source/Sound_of_Mull)

***Sabella pavonina***, commonly known as the **peacock worm**, is a marine [polychaete](/source/Polychaete) [worm](/source/Worm) belonging to the family [Sabellidae](/source/Sabellidae). They can be found along the coasts of [Western Europe](/source/Western_Europe) and the [Mediterranean](/source/Mediterranean). It is found in shallow, tidal waters with a bed of mud, sand or gravel. It is sometimes found on rocks or [shipwrecks](/source/Shipwreck).[1]

It is 10–25 centimetres (4–10 in) in length. Its body is elongated and divided into 100–600 small [segments](/source/Segment_(biology)). The head has two fans of 8–45 feathery [radioles](/source/Radiole) arising from fleshy, semi-circular lobes. The body is mostly grey-green while the radioles are brown, red or purple with darker bands.[2]

The worm lives inside a smooth tube of fine mud or sand particles held together with [mucus](/source/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](/source/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.[3] The crown is highly sensitive to light and pressure and quickly retracts in response to motion or shadow.[3][4]

*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.[5][6]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Wells1_1-0)** Wells, G. P. (1951). "On the behaviour of *Sabella*". *Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences*. **138** (891): 278–299. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1951RSPSB.138..278W](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1951RSPSB.138..278W). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1098/rspb.1951.0023](https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspb.1951.0023). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [82543](https://www.jstor.org/stable/82543). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [14853971](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14853971).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Fish_2-0)** Fish, J. D. (2012). [*A Student's Guide to the Seashore*](https://books.google.com/books?id=mRHvCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173). Springer. pp. 172–173. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-94-011-5888-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-94-011-5888-6).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Hayward_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Hayward_3-1) Hayward, Peter J. (2004). [*A Natural History of the Seashore*](https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof0000hayw/page/52/). Collins. pp. 52–53.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Harris, Vernon (1990). [*Sessile Animals of the Sea Shore*](https://archive.org/details/sessileanimalsof0000harr/page/116/). Chapman and Hall. p. 117. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-412-33760-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-412-33760-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Berrill, N. J. (1977). ["Functional Morphology and Development of Segmental Inversion in Sabellid Polychaetes"](http://www.jstor.org/stable/1540600). *Biological Bulletin*. **153** (3): 453–467 [463]. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/1540600](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1540600). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [1540600](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1540600).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Wells2_6-0)** Wells, G. P. (1952). "The Respiratory Significance of the Crown in the Polychaete Worms *Sabella* and *Myxicola*". *Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences*. **140** (898): 70–82 [75]. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1952RSPSB.140...70W](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1952RSPSB.140...70W). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1098/rspb.1952.0045](https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspb.1952.0045). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [82713](https://www.jstor.org/stable/82713). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [13003913](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13003913).

## External links

- [Peacock worm](https://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1717) at Marine Life Information Network

- [ARKive - images and video](https://web.archive.org/web/20080319092835/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Sabella_pavonina/)

- Photos of [Sabella pavonina](https://sealifecollection.org/taxon/130967) in the Sealife Collection

Taxon identifiers Sabella pavonina Wikidata: Q1171262 BioLib: 83804 BOLD: 305067 CoL: 4TV2B EoL: 11140926 EUNIS: 50967 GBIF: 2328559 iNaturalist: 338014 IRMNG: 11000731 ITIS: 68143 NBN: NHMSYS0021048529 NCBI: 51259 Observation.org: 27593 OBIS: 130967 Open Tree of Life: 660966 SeaLifeBase: 141972 WoRMS: 130967

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sabella pavonina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabella_pavonina) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabella_pavonina?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.