CreatureData

Fanworm

Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791)

Status not recordedworms

The fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii) is a species in the family Sabellidae, order Sabellida.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the fanworm

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the fanworm live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the fanworm as introduced in 2 countries, and flagged as invasive in 1 of them.

  1. New Zealandinvasive
  2. Australia

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the fanworm endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the fanworm classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumAnnelida
  3. classPolychaeta
  4. orderSabellida
  5. familySabellidae
  6. genusSabella
  7. SpeciesSabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791)

Synonyms Amphitrite ventilabrum, Corallina tubularia-melitensis, Nereis lutraria, Sabella gracillima, Sabella penicillum, Sabella penicillus, Sabella spallanzanii, Sabella unispira, Sabella ventilabrum, Sabella viridis, Serpula penicillus, Spirographis elegans, Spirographis gracilis, Spirographis imperialis, Spirographis longispira, Spirographis spallanzanii, Teredo melitensis, Tubularia spallanzanii

Other names and names in other languages (14)
  • European fan wormEnglish
  • European fan-wormEnglish
  • Feather duster wormEnglish
  • Feather-duster wormEnglish
  • Mediterranean fanwormEnglish
  • palmeretaCatalan
  • SchraubensabelleGerman
  • plumero de marSpanish
  • spirographeFrench
  • spirografoItalian
  • espirògrafCatalan
  • Großer FächerwurmGerman
  • Schrauben SabelleGerman
  • ombrella di mareItalian

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the fanworm

Other species in the same genus Sabella.

Fan worm

Sabella pavonina

SabellidaeNo free photo yet

CompareFanworm vs Fan wormFanworm vs Lesser peacock wormFanworm vs Hydroides euplaeanaFanworm vs Notaulax velata

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the fanworm an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the fanworm as invasive in 1 country: New Zealand. It lists it as introduced in 2 in all.

What kind of animal is the fanworm?

The fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii) belongs to the family Sabellidae in the order Sabellida.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/fanworm

MLA

“Fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/fanworm.

BibTeX
@misc{fanworm_2026,
  title = {Fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/fanworm},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}