Sue Hollis , Christmas Tree Worm (May Theme: The Elegance of Nature)

The Christmas Tree Worm is a colorful marine worm with beautiful, spiraling plumes that resemble a fir tree. Much like the complex tree-root systems of a large forest, colonies of Christmas tree worms create a calcium carbonate tube that penetrates the corals they inhabit where they can live for up to 40 years. When startled, Christmas tree worms rapidly retract into their burrows, hiding from would-be predators making this stunningly delicate worm extremely hard to photograph.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.