Vermiliopsis multiannulata

About Vermiliopsis multiannulata

Vermiliopsis multiannulata is a marine serpulid tube worm. The Kauaʻi source lists it under the historical name Vermiliopsis torquata, which the World Polychaeta Database now accepts as V. multiannulata. The Hawaiian account describes a small body within a longer, sculptured white calcareous tube. A thick, wingless opercular stalk carries a vesicular operculum topped by a ringed brown chitinous cap. The fine radiolar crown extends at the tube opening, while the segmented body is normally protected inside. Diagnostic details of the tube and operculum matter because members of the Vermiliopsis infundibulum complex are difficult to distinguish.

The plate uses an opened portion of the tube to reveal one complete adult, including its crown, operculum, thorax, abdomen and posterior end. The tube and every appendage remain clear of the frame edges and identification footer, on a continuous marine hard-substrate background. Local inclusion is bounded by the Kauaʻi occurrence marks in Appendix A, printed page 91, of the Coles and colleagues 2004 harbor and reef report. Those records combine historical compilation and the 2002 study where applicable. They establish source-documented occurrence, not current abundance, persistence or island-wide distribution.