Red Tufted Protula Protula tubularia Protula dal ciuffo rosso intotheblue.it

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Protula tubularia, Pink Tufted Worm, Red Tufted Protula, is a polychaete worm. Polychaeta is a genus of polychaete annelids in the family Serpulidae. Red Tufted Protula Protula tubularia Protula ciuffo rosso intotheblue.it

In the video we see it on a mixed seabed between rock, sand and posidonia around 5 meters deep.

Red Tufted Protula - Protula tubularia - Protula dal ciuffo rosso - www.intotheblue.it

Red Tufted Protula – Protula tubularia – www.intotheblue.it

Protula tubularia is a sedentary Mediterranean polychaete also present on the two sides of the Atlantic and in other seas. The vermiform body is protected by a solid calcareous tube, up to 1 cm broad, which the animal builds around, after having chosen for fixing itself a ridge where the currents rich in plankton pass.

From the tube in which it moves, which is the house chosen for life, two elegant gill crowns come out, red or orange with refined dotting and shading to white. Completely retractable in case of danger, they serve at the same time to breathe and capture the suspended food particles on which the animal feeds.

Red Tufted Protula – Protula tubularia – Protula dal ciuffo rosso – www.intotheblue.it

Red-tufted protula lives throughout the Mediterranean Sea in small tubes at depths that can vary from 10 meters up to over 100 meters. It is a very common annelid throughout the Mediterranean and therefore we can easily find it among the Posidonia oceanica meadows, on the various detrital seabeds and in the coral reefs. red-tufted protula Protula tubularia intotheblue.it

The red color distinguishes this worm from other species of the same family. The Protula tubularia or red-tufted Protula is a worm that belongs to the class of sedentary Polychaetes and to the order of Serpulids.

Protula tubularia – Protula dal ciuffo rosso – www.intotheblue.it

Serpulidae are a family of polychaete annelids. Members of this family differ from other tube worms in that they have a specialized operculum that blocks the entrance when they retreat into the tubes. The serpulids form tubes of calcium carbonate. The serpulids are the most important biomineralisers among the annelids. About 300 species are known in the family Serpulidae, all but one of which live in saline waters. The earliest serpulids are known from the Permian geological era.