WHATSTHATFISH
Sea slugs & snails

Large Worm Snail

Ceraesignum maximum

Also known as: Great Coral Worm Shell, Large Worm Snail, Operculate Worm Snail, Vermitid Gastropod, Vermitid Worm Shell, Worm Shell, Worm Shelled Gastropod, Worm Snail, Dendropoma maxima

Adult
@fishx6 · Fafa, Tonga · October 20111 / 2
01

Overview

Found singly or in large groups, burrowed into dead and live corals with just a small tube poking out, over coral and rocky reefs.
They feed on detritus and plankton.

These worm shells are unusual as they bury into live and dead corals and have a black trapdoor called an Operculum
They produce a mucous net (very much like a spider web) to snare their food of plankton and detritus.
They produce the net and then suck it back in at intervals, redigest it to get the food and then cast it back out again.

02

How to identify

COLOURS
Body shape
holestubes

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Indo-Pacific
  • Country only · 2
LIVES IN

Found singly or in large groups, burrowed into dead and live corals with just a small tube poking out, over coral and rocky reefs.

04

Adult photos 2

05

Discussion 2

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2 comments

  • Bob Bean Boomerson· 7 May 2025

    What eats them

  • fishx6Top Contributor· 9 Sept 2025

    They do not have any real predators, however I found this article that you might find interesting! https://www.gbri.org.au/SpeciesList/StudentProject2016%7CBerilinDuong.aspx

    Helpful
ALL STAGES
FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

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Taxonomy

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumMollusca
  3. classGastropoda
  4. orderLittorinimorpha
  5. familyVermetidae
  6. genusCeraesignum
  7. speciesCeraesignum maximum (G. B. Sowerby I, 1825)

SourcesWoRMSSeaLifeBase

06

More in the family

Littorinimorpha