#4896 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Peacock Worm
🇳🇱 Pauwkokerworm ·Sabella pavonina
🪼 Jellyfish, starfish, worms & co 📍 in the Netherlands
📍 Lysekil, SE-VG, SE
📍 Ormestad, Gullmarn, Sverige
📍 maidstone rock Cape Point, Cape Town, South Africa
📍 IE
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Asbjørn Hansen · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 2. © Emil B · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Sylvain Le Bris · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Poul Erik Rasmussen · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Christine Morrow · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Pierre Corbrion · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 7. Lysekil, SE-VG, SE:© Emil B · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Ormestad, Gullmarn, Sverige:© Poul Erik Rasmussen · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. maidstone rock Cape Point, Cape Town, South Africa:© Georgina Jones · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 10. IE:© Anna Kellagher · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The peacock worm ( Sabella pavonina ) is a marine polychaete worm belonging to the family Sabellidae. It occurs along the coasts of Western Europe and the Mediterranean. It is found in shallow, tidal waters with a bed of mud, sand or gravel. It is sometimes found on rocks or shipwrecks.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 19 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #50 most seen of the jellyfish, starfish, worms & co in NL.
- 408 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Marie Jules César Savigny in 1820 (206 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Peacock Worm
- Nederlands
- Pauwkokerworm
- scientific name
- Sabella pavonina
- class
- Polychaeta
- order
- Sabellida
- family
- Sabellidae
- in NL
- native
- sightings in NL
- 19
- sightings in Europe
- 243
- sightings worldwide
- 408
- GBIF records in NL
- 151
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1820 by Marie Jules César Savigny
relatives· Sabellidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 338014, Wikidata Q1171262, GBIF 2328559, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.