Evergreen Natural History Database

Size:
The normal range is 30-40 cm in length and larger ones can grow to be 80-90cm.

Color:
Green or brown with red, two lobed parapodia. Underside is a light yellowish-green tint. In the light both ventral and dorsal sides have an iridescent sheen.

Range:
Pacific coast from Alaska to California.

Habitat:
Stiff muddy beaches, usually collecting under rocks.

Misidentification:
Nereis vexillosa which is a smaller, more common Polychaeta. It has a more greenish blueish color to it and is more commonly 15 to 20 cm long.the parapodia are not orange in this species.

Life History:
Nereis brandti burrows in almost all levels of the mud. They eat algae and are predators of small crustaceans. When they mate, both females and males get enlarged parapodia so that they can swim to collect around near the surface at night. Some of their sections which change into reproductive sacs, explode, sending gametes into the water which then get fertilized. The anterior portion of the worm survives for a short time.

Predators:
Large crabs found on muddy beaches and sculpins.

Suggested Reading:

Seashore life of the Northern Pacific Coast by Eugene N. Kozloff

Marine Wildlife: from Puget Sound Through the inside Passage by Steve Yates

Links:
Ocean Link
NW Marine Life
Polychaeta information

Last updated Tuesday, August 15, 2006, by Lisa Ferrier