Grungy in the garden but sensational in the sea, worms are an essential player all over the seabeds of the British coast. Paul Naylor reports
UKDIVING CRITTERCONFIDENTIAL
Organ Pipe Worms, showing how each one has a trumpet-shaped tube plug among its tentacles
Wondrous worms
Grungy in the garden but sensational in the sea, worms are an essential player all over the seabeds of the British coast. Paul Naylor reports
One of the many surprises of marine life is that worms, usually thought of as unappealing and even faintly disgusting on land, can be attractive and glamorous when we meet them in the sea. It is especially the tube-building worms that are responsible for this elevated reputation and the secret of their visual
16 appeal is a crown of feathery tentacles. More important than simply looking pretty, these multi-purpose structures are well adapted for carrying sense organs, absorbing oxygen and collecting food particles and building material from the passing currents.
The most obvious worm in the rocky habitats frequented by many UK divers
Double Spiral Worms among other encrusting life under a reef overhang tends to be the double spiral worm( Bispira volutacornis). Those distinctive tentacles emerge from a grey, parchment-like tube and can be rapidly withdrawn at the slightest disturbance. This wariness can be frustrating for impatient photographers but I am often intrigued by how groups of worms, and even individuals within the same group, can vary enormously in their sensitivity or boldness.
The Peacock Worm( Sabella pavonina) can be found on silt-covered rocks but is much more common on soft seabeds, often in large numbers. It lives in a tall, slim tube and boasts a fan of very fine tentacles. The particles they capture are carefully sorted with the smallest eaten, the largest discarded and intermediates used in tube construction and maintenance. The worm’ s tentacles are usually marked with bright colours that reflect the‘ Peacock’ name but it has an even more glamorous close relative, the feather duster worm( Sabella spallanzani). Previously just known from the