Sand Mason Worm- Lanice conchilega

Sand Mason Worm -Lanice conchilega

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Annelida
Class:	Polychaeta
Order:	Terebellida
Family:	Terebellidae
Subfamily:	Terebellinae
Genus:	Lanice
Species:	L. conchilega

The worm lives in a tube it constructs from sand particles and other debris which it glues together with mucus

The worm has tentacles which grab particles of food and debris from the water, they are active suspension feeders.

Lanice conchilega has a complex and very delicate gill system this is the red frilly structure that can be seen in the photographs. The Sand Mason worm is fond al around Britain and Ireland, my favourite way to see them is to go snorkelling somewhere like Studland Bay in Dorset where there are whole 'fields' of Sand Mason Worms. However you do not need a snorkel or even get in the sea to find them as they inhabit  both the intertidal as well as the subtidal zones. They are a polychaete worm which grow up to 30cm in length and can be yellow, pink and brown in colour. Each worm can have somewhere between 150 and 300 segments with 17 chaetigers (a stiff bristle made of chitin) on the front segments. They have 3 pairs of bushy red gills. The crown of tentacles are white and can bee seen in some of my photographs. The worms rear parapods are rectangular flaps. The Sand Mason worm larvae have a long planktonic stage.

All photographs were taken by me.