New Jersey Scuba Diving

Tube Worms

Tube Worms

Tube worms live with their bodies buried in tubes that they construct in the soft bottom substrate. Fan Worms ( Sabella spp. and others, 1/8" to 8", right ) are among the most popular sights on tropical coral reefs. Few people realize that they are present in temperate waters as well.

Fan Worms, or "Featherdusters", have a frill of tentacles on the head with which they feed on plankton, and occasionally larger items. Food particles are trapped in sticky mucous and carried down into the mouth. Some Fan Worms have eyespots along the tentacles.

Despite appearances, Fan Worms are not related to any of the other tentacled creatures on this page but are actually polychaetes, related to clam worms.

Fan Worms
Myxicola infundibulum or something similar - note how the tentacles are joined almost to the ends, with no eyespots.
Fan Worms
Fan Worms are extremely sensitive, and withdraw into their tubes at the slightest disturbance, leaving behind a ball of mucous.
terebellid worm
The head of a terebellid worm on a subtidal mudflat in the Shark River. These are tube worms with long tentacles that spread out over the bottom. Cilia on the tentacles carry microscopic bits of food to the mouth ( see below. ) These worms do not sting like anemones.
terebellid worm anatomy
Tubeworm anatomy
Tube worm burrows
Tube worm burrows in the side of a freshly dug hole. The dark color of the sediment indicates anoxic ( no oxygen ) conditions, which is normal in this sort of muddy bottom.

November 12, 2022

Hacking

November 12, 2022

I've been hacking up a storm, and I've made some major improvements to the mobile navigation menus, as you can see in the very meta screenshot above. In fact, it's now almost as good on a cellphone as on a big desktop computer. This website has well over a thousand pages, which calls for excellent navigation features if you're ever going to find anything. That's a real problem on a tiny cellphone screen - where do you put it?

More: Hacking ...

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