[1][2][3] The common name arises from the parchment-like appearance of the tubes that house these worms.

The tubes the worms live in are either attached to rocks, or, more commonly, buried in sandy bottoms in shallow waters.

The worm has spines along its body segments that are modified for tunneling into the sandy substrate to create the u-shaped tube within which it lives.

[5] A nudibranch, Tenellia chaetopterana also lives within the tubes of a species of Chaetopterus.

Tenellia rolleri is another nudibranch with similar flattened morphology which lives in muddy areas with no obvious food source, but abundant Chaetopterus tubes.