Marine Worms

Introduction

Marine worms can vary from fairly normal worm design to the wildly un-worm-like Christmas tree worm. They each fill important ecological rolls from "clean up crew" to building reefs that support other marine wildlife. Some species remain tiny as plankton, while others (such as the Christmas tree worm) can get quite massive and live for 40 years in clean enough waters.

Meet the Marvelous Christmas Tree Worm

5:20 minute video about this species who attach to coral, grow with the coral, and even help protect them from attackers.

Types of Marine Worms

Polychaete Worms "Polychaeta (/ˌpɒlɪˈkiːtə/) is a paraphyletic[1] class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (/ˈpɒlɪˌkiːts/). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. More than 10,000 species are described in this class. Common representatives include the lugworm (Arenicola marina) and the sandworm or clam worm Alitta.

Polychaetes as a class are robust and widespread, with species that live in the coldest ocean temperatures of the abyssal plain, to forms which tolerate the extremely high temperatures near hydrothermal vents. Polychaetes occur throughout the Earth's oceans at all depths, from forms that live as plankton near the surface, to a 2- to 3-cm specimen (still unclassified) observed by the robot ocean probe Nereus at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known spot in the Earth's oceans.[2] Only 168 species (less than 2% of all polychaetes) are known from fresh waters.[3]" - Wikipedia: Polychaete

Polydora ciliata

Polydora ciliata the tube-dwelling worm is found predominantly on vertical or overhanging chalk of chalk reefs.

Ross Worms

"Sabellaria spinulosa is a species of marine polychaete worm in the family Sabellariidae, commonly known as the Ross worm. It lives in a tube built of sand, gravel and pieces of shell." - Wikipedia: Sabellaria spinulosa

"Sabellaria reefs can be made up of thousands of worms, built over months or years and the structural complexity of the reefs allows the development of highly diverse communities. The scarcity and fragility of this habitat has resulted in the identification of this reef habitat as a priority seabed conservation feature in both international and domestic legislation."

...

"“Sabellaria reefs are an important feature of marine biodiversity because they provide crevices and attachment surfaces for a variety of marine organisms. They influence faunal communities primarily by enhancing the abundance of species found sporadically in sedimentary habitats such as mussels, nematode worms, brittlestars and anemones.

“It is due to this ‘biodiversity value’ that these reefs are monitored and protected. Reefs with a high density of living worms support a higher faunal diversity than an empty reef. This indicates that healthier reefs – those which are reproducing and recruiting successfully – are ecologically more important than those which are in a state of decay. This highlights the importance of protecting these habitats from human disturbance. As part of our current work, we are searching for these reefs and identifying them so that they can be protected from destruction.”

Reefs formed by the Ross Worm are identified by the European Commission as a habitat in need of protection. Under the EU Habitats Directive, member states must designate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to support and protect these reefs. When they form reefs, Ross Worms are also protected as a Biodiversity Action Plan species." - Ecologists Searching Protected Ross Worm Reefs North Sea

"The worms are very tolerant of adverse conditions such as polluted water, low salinity or low oxygen levels. They favour localities where currents or waves churn up sand but they need a hard substrate to get established. The larvae are strongly attracted to settle in areas where adults are already living or other larvae have settled, but if, after 2 months, the larvae have not found such a place, they settle independently.[4] Shells of the scallop Pecten maximus also attracted larvae to a lesser extent. Larvae of S. alveolata were attracted to settle near adult S. spinulosa but not vice versa.[4] "  - Wikipedia: Sabellaria spinulosa

Food

Plankton and detritus

Species Supported by Ross Worms

Ross Worm Reefs

"Sabellaria spinulosa usually lives singly in a tube attached to the substrate over its entire length. In much of its range it does not forms reefs in the same way as the closely related honeycomb worm, Sabellaria alveolata. When the worms are crowded together the tubes may stand up vertically and form crusts or mounds several metres across.[2] Unaggregated individuals may reach densities of 300 per square metre (10sq ft), and densities of 4000 individuals per square metre have been recorded in loose aggregations.[5] However, under a narrow set of environmental circumstances, reefs are formed. These include: sand or gravel sea floor, the edges of sandbanks, the edges of channels and drop-offs, high turbidity, high sediment load, moderate currents and moderate suspended organic particulate load. Where reefs exist, they provide a biodiverse habitat for a large number of invertebrates and juvenile fish. They are often dominated by the presence of crustaceans, especially the porcelain crab (Pisidia longicornis) and the pink shrimp (Pandalus montagui), which feed on the worms and on other invertebrates which shelter in the reefs.[6] Another frequent resident is the queen scallop (Aequipecten opercularis).[6]

The reefs are at risk from trawling and other human activities that disturb the seabed. For example, in the Wadden Sea, trawling for pink shrimp (Pandalus montagui) [7] broke up the reefs and destroyed the fishery as well.[8]"  - Wikipedia: Sabellaria spinulosa

Tools & Apps

Oceana

New Zealand 

Organizations

Europe