Tube worm
Annelida – Polychaete
Distribution:
This twisted mass of calcium carbonate (limestone) found washed up on the beach was once home for a tube worm. The worm builds the limestone tube for protection against predators. If threatened or disturbed they will retract into the tube, closing their trap door or operculum behind them.
Did you know?
When alive, a tube worm has elaborate tentacles to filter the water for oxygen and food, such as plankton and other organic matter.
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds