Marine worms are an interesting lot that can look frilly, hairy, or leggy, not what you think of as a “worm”. Most marine worms live in some sort of tube for protection and this is what you will usually see on the beach, not the worm itself.
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- A “field” of Decorator Worm tubes. These worms adhere overlapping bits of shell and other debris to the exposed end of their bes, affording a perfect “decorated” disguise. These are also referred to as Plummed Worms.
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- Decorator Worm closeup.
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- A dislodged Decorator Worm showing it’s black tube. A similar worm, the Shingle Worm, has a gray tube, and their glued debris tends to be smaller and not overlapping.
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- A Dislodged Shingle Worm.
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- Soda Straw Worm tube with fecal pellets that may accumulate at low tide.
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- A “field” of Soda Straw Worm tubes seen protruding at low tide. If you look at them closely at the tide recedes, you may see water squirting from the end of the tube.
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- The tubes are tough and stretchy above the sand and limp below.
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- The eroding surf can fill the tide line with piles of limp tubes.
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- Bamboo Tube Worm dislodged from the sand. These are similar to the Soda Straw Worms, but the tubes are much more fragile.
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- Fan Worms live in hard, calcaereous tubes cemented to shells or other rubble in near shore waters.
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- Sand Builder Worms build tubes of cemented sand that may intertwine to form reefs near the low tide line.
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- Sand Builder tubes covering oyster shells, Another common name is Sand Castle Worm.
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- Sand Builder Worm colony on a Horseshoe Crab.
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- A piece of Sand Builder Worm colony broken free, possibly from a colony formed reef.
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- A Parchment Tube Worm exposed at low tide.
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- A larger worm, Parchment Tube Worms live in tubes up to 12 inches long.
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- Lugworm fecal castings seen at low tide.
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- Lugworm castings distorted by the rising tide.
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- An as yet unidentified worm hole.
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- This is not a marine worm 🙂
