Diopatra

**Common Name:** Plumed Worm
 * Phylum: Annelida **

**Scientific Name:** Diopatra cuprea cuprea

**Class:** Polychaeta

**Location:** found in coastal areas from Massachusetts to Florida and Louisiana as well as in the Gulf of Mexico

**Size:** 12" (30 cm) long, 3/8" (10 mm) wide

**Habitat:** live on protected mud and sand flats mixed with shell debris and gravel from the low-tide line to water up to 270 feet deep. They live in their tubes, which they create from particles of shells and other matter in their environment. **Living requirements:** preferential distribution in the inter- tidal and shallow sub-tidal setting


 * Life cycle: **


 * Male and Female Differences: **


 * Interesting Facts: **


 * a bizarre, plumed polychaete that decorates its tube with bits of shell, seaweed, hydroid, and tunicates.
 * has well developed mouth parts



Zookeeper Hannah Jones

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