Colours

Distinguishing features

Dr Elena Kupriyanova (Australian Museum, Aug 2020) advises that the serpulids known as Christmas Tree Worms can include several species including (but not limited to): Spirobranchus corniculatus, Spirobranchus gardineri, Spirobranchus nigranucha and Spirobranchus richardsmithi, all of which are known from Lizard Island. Ornamentation of the operculum needs to be examined to distinguish species but opercula tend to become overgrown by algae, so even in the lab, they often need to be cleaned for identification. Elena wonders if colour could be species specific but so little is known about colour variability within species that it's not useful for field identifications.

Size

Synonyms

Distribution

Local abundance

Web resources