A colony of fine white calcareous tubes tangled together like a mat of straws, spreading across shaded rock and dead coral, with a tiny translucent crown emerging from each tube. Colonies reach about 10 cm (4 in) and read as a mineral crust rather than as animals until the crowns are out.
Most tube worms are solitary; this genus builds colonies by budding, so a mat is the descendants of one settler as much as a gathering of separate individuals. The crowns are small enough that a colony in full filter looks fuzzy rather than feathery, and they withdraw all at once at a shadow, turning the mat back into stone. The species was described from the northern end of this sea and is one of a handful of local names that carry the town of Eilat - which is where a good deal of the region's marine biology has been done.
- tangle of fine white calcareous tubes, like a mat of straws
- tiny crowns emerging from each tube, translucent
- colonies grow on shaded rock and dead coral
- colonies to 10 cm across
