Social Feather Duster in Cozumel

Dense clusters of soft, banded, feathery crowns emerging from leathery tubes, usually brown and white. Looks like a patch of small flowers on rubble or coral base.

Quick ID

Where You Will See It In Cozumel

Social Feather Duster works the 9 to 82 foot band. On this island that means the sheltered west-coast reefs, and the shallow east-side entries when the sea is flat — these are the sites where the depth and the habitat line up for it.

Without a boat. It is worth looking for at Chen Rio, Coral Princess and El Islote — all shore entries, so you dive them on your own schedule.

On an ordinary beginner boat dive. It should be within reach at Yucab, Casa Blanca, Chankanaab Bolones, Columbia Shallows and El Cielo. No advanced certification needed.

Deeper, and on the walls. It is also plausible on Palancar Horseshoe, Paso del Cedral, Punta Tunich and San Francisco Wall.

Conditions change the odds more than the site does — the current, the time of day and how much the group has already stirred up the sand. Ask your guide what they have been seeing that week.

Behaviour

Colonies form by budding, so a cluster is often a family. The crowns filter plankton and retract into the tube at any disturbance.

Commonly Confused With

• Christmas tree worm — Spiral cones set into living coral rather than soft crowns in clusters.
• Magnificent feather duster — A much larger single crown rather than a dense cluster.

Diving Etiquette And Safety

Do not touch. The tubes are soft and easily crushed.

Part of the Cozumel marine life guide · see Cozumel dive sites · plan your Cozumel dive trip

Photo: Nick Hobgood, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.