Chaetopterus variopedatus Parchment Worm

    A Parchment Worm burrow (pictured below, center left) is a common sight in sheltered intertidal areas of northeast Florida. The worm's tough and flexible parchment-like U-shaped tube (from which it gets its name) is shown in the top right inset after being extracted from the substrate. The bottom right inset shows the worms segmented body after being extraction from the tube.

Chaetopterus variopedatus Parchment Worm
New Smyrna Beach, Volusia Co., FL 2/18/2008 | Digital images by Joel Wooster