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Underwater Photography by Jay Torborg |
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"Hawaiian Featherduster #2" |
| The Feather Duster�s crown represents just a
small part of the entire worm (Sabellastarte indica). A tube used
as the worm�s home reaches well down into the coral Here you are
looking at the side of its fronds. The worm filters particles from the
water, catching them on tiny cilia on the fronds, then passing them down a
groove in the center of each frond, toward the mouth. Once the particles
reach the mouth, they may be eaten, discarded, or added to the hidden tube
that reaches far into the coral. When startled by a touch or a shadow, the
Feather Duster withdraws into its tube. The worm can lose its crown and
grow a new one.
This specimen was photographed in about 40 ft of water off the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii near the Mauna Lani Resort. I think this is my favorite Featherduster photograph. Photographed with a Nikon N90s in a Sea&Sea NX90 housing with two Ikelite 200 strobes. Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro lens. Fuji Provia 100F transparency film scanned with a Nikon LS-2000. |
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Copyright Jay Torborg 2001 |
