Dendronotus frondosus

Shaggy tree worm ( Dendronotus frondosus )

The shaggy one tree worm or Common tree worm ( Dendronotus frondosus ) is a snail from the subordination of Nudibranch, who lives at the bottom of the seas and carries no house. You can be on polyps sticks and in tide pools in the North Atlantic, found in the English Channel and the North Sea as well as on the Pacific coast of North America to Los Angeles.

Appearance

The tree snail could be held in the first instance for a piece of seaweed or other water plant. The reason is that the elongate body is covered with up to nine tree-like branching back attachments. The club-shaped head sensor with laminated lace exhibit this unusual, branched form. The tree snail is milky white, sometimes almost gray. Drawings on their body, there are in shades of brown, red and white. The screw is about ten inches long.

Way of life

Through the back appendages that resemble plants, the body contour dissolves completely, and thus the animal is very well camouflaged. It feeds on the polyps of Hydrozoenkolonien, especially the Tubularia species, which scans it systematically. Younger animals prefer smaller polyps of species Sertularia cupressina and Dynamena pumila.