Marshall Islands Horsehair Worms (Phoronida)

This page links to photos of phoronid worms (phylum Phoronida) that we have photographed in the Marshall Islands. This is a rather small phylum of animals and we have documentation of only two small species, although there may be more. They feed with a double basket of filaments called a lophophore that resemble the feeding structure of some "Christmas tree" kinds of polychaete worms. Both of our species were seen in sand on the lower slope of lagoon reefs at depths of about 30m or more. Both species are small, maybe 25mm across at the gills.

The thumbnails below link to pages with additional, larger photographs.


Phoronis cf australis


Phoronis sp. 1

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