“Feather Duster” Worms

Contrasting views of a feather duster worm – what you normally see while looking over the edge of a dock or float, and the hidden part of the worm hiding in its shell. Special thanks and photo credits to my great good pals, Ken Sandstrom and Tony Tablazon for the “naked” pics of the worm. Tony tells me they make great fish bait, too.

A common sight attached to boat docks or reefs is an oddly beautiful animal commonly called a feather duster due to its obvious resemblance to that appliance. The creature is actually a worm, one of the 8,000 different species that make up the class of worms called Polychaeta. Polychaete worms come in a variety of rainbow like colors and are not always strictly anchored to a substrate; some are free moving. Some even have a head that looks more like a fanged centipede and grab prey like many predators. This particular one found along our Northwest Shores is Eudistyli vavancouveri. Normally all see are the feathery tops of the worm as it sticks out of its shell filtering detritus and plankton from the water. Put your finger near the creature and it pops back into the shell with amazing speed. Inside that shell, however, is a lean and muscular body that can get up to two feet long.