astronomy-to-zoology:

 Christmas tree worms

(Spirobranchus giganteus)

Christmas tree worms as per their names are a species of worm of the class Polychaeta (marine worms) and like many other worms of their family (Serpulidae) they secrete tubes in which they live in. they can be found in most of the worlds tropical oceans from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific. they are called Christmas tree worms, due to the multicolored spirals that poke out of the worm’s tube, which are their respiratory organs and they are heavily ciliated causing any prey to get trapped in them and get transported to the worms mouth.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Annelida-Polychaete-Canalipalpata-Serpulidae-Spriobranchus-giganteus

*As per the holiday spirit i will be posting exclusively holiday/arctic animals for most of December (until i run out of animals). starting with the Christmas tree worms for obvious reasons, feel free to request any animals you’d like to see.

Image 1 source Image 2 source