Slime Worm

Myxicola infundibulum

This worm can be up to 20 centimetres long but most of the body is contained in a thick transparent tube and buried in the seabed in which it lives. The head protrudes from the tube and is surrounded by a crown of interlaced tentacles which form a funnel approximately three centimetres across. When disturbed, the tentacles retract and only the gelatinous end of the tube is visible.

Authority

Montagu, 1808

Classification Details

Phylum: Annelida (worms); Class: Polychaeta (bristle worms)

Habitat

Lives in groups in cracks in bedrock, in mussel beds, and in soft sediments such as mud and sand. Found from the shallow sublittoral usually down to around 30 metres, although they have been recorded as deep as 500 metres. This widespread species is found in the Arctic, North Pacific, Atlantic, and Australia.

Diet

Filter feed on small algae and detritus present in seawater. Cilia on projections on the funnel (pinnules) strain particles from the water and pass them to the central mouth in ciliated tracts.

Reproduction

Worms are either male or female. Eggs and sperm are released into the water column and fertilized externally. After around 15 days, the swimming larvae settle on the seabed and develop into adults. Spawning usually occurs in the autumn in the Bay of Fundy.

Fun Facts

This species can withdraw into its tube very quickly by using a giant nerve fibre that extends down its body. This nerve fibre makes up 27% of the animal’s entire nervous system. As well as protecting the animal from predators, this quick withdrawal ejects waste from the worm’s tube.

The worm’s Latin name Myxicola means "living in slime".

References

Dean D, Chapman SR, Chapman CS (1987) Reproduction and development of the sabellid polychaete Myxicola infundibulum. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 67, 431–439.

de Kluijver M J, Ingalsuo S S, de Bruyne R H (2000) Macrobenthos of the North Sea http://species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=macrobenthos_polychaeta&id=693. Accessed online 20 January 2020.

Nicol JAC (1948) The giant nerve fibres in the central nervous system of Myxicola (Polychaeta, Sabellidae). Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science s3–89, 1–45.

Shumway SE, Bogdanowicz C, Dean D (1988) Oxygen Consumption and feeding rates of the sabellid polychaete Myxicola infundibulum (Renier). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 90A, 425–428.