MSilvia
Contributor
I dove at Old Garden Beach in Rockport with Soggy this evening, and it was the second time in three days that I was there. (see the report on saturday's dive)
It was approaching low tide this time, so the surface swim to the rock reef was a good deal shorter than on saturday. Visibility was much better in the surf zone than before, but that was probably because the water was nearly flat calm. Unfortunately, it was pretty poor once we got out, and it only improved slightly below the thermocline.
We didn't bring home any keepers, or see any flounder this time, but we did see another of the worms like the one I reported seeing during my EAN checkout. It swam up from behind and buzzed my mask, giving me a bit of a start. It then cruised over toward Aaron, and circled around for another... smell of us I suppose, before we left it in the distance behind us. It definately had a predatory look and manor, so I thought I'd see what I could find out about it.
I found out that marine worms belong to class Polychaeta (which means 'many bristles'), and are members of one of two subclasses, Errantia (swimmers) or Sedentaria (stationary). I thought this particular worm was a clam worm, but had second thoughts when I read that they live in the sand or other bottom. The picture of the leafy paddle worm looked close too, but I decided it probably was a clam worm after all when I ran across this bit in Martinez's Marine Life of the North Atlantic:
The clamworm is typical of the errant worms. It is often seen by divers and used as bait for fishing. It has two hard, black teeth embedded in the muscle tissue of the pharynx (the passage to the gut) on either side of the mouth. When it captures food, it thrusts out it's teeth, extends the pharynx, and turns the mouth inside out. This is called an eversible proboscis, which is typical of errant worms. When the worm bites into food, it can pull the food deep into the pharynx. The bite from these worms can be painful, as many who fish can attest.
It further says of the clam worm that In a mature adult there are up to 200 segments with well-developed parapodia (swimming paddles). They have 4 eyes, and are generally 6 to 8 inches long, although they have been reported up to 36" long and 1 3/4" wide.
I can tell you right now I'll be happier if I never see a 3 foot clam worm swim up to me.
It was approaching low tide this time, so the surface swim to the rock reef was a good deal shorter than on saturday. Visibility was much better in the surf zone than before, but that was probably because the water was nearly flat calm. Unfortunately, it was pretty poor once we got out, and it only improved slightly below the thermocline.
We didn't bring home any keepers, or see any flounder this time, but we did see another of the worms like the one I reported seeing during my EAN checkout. It swam up from behind and buzzed my mask, giving me a bit of a start. It then cruised over toward Aaron, and circled around for another... smell of us I suppose, before we left it in the distance behind us. It definately had a predatory look and manor, so I thought I'd see what I could find out about it.
I found out that marine worms belong to class Polychaeta (which means 'many bristles'), and are members of one of two subclasses, Errantia (swimmers) or Sedentaria (stationary). I thought this particular worm was a clam worm, but had second thoughts when I read that they live in the sand or other bottom. The picture of the leafy paddle worm looked close too, but I decided it probably was a clam worm after all when I ran across this bit in Martinez's Marine Life of the North Atlantic:
The clamworm is typical of the errant worms. It is often seen by divers and used as bait for fishing. It has two hard, black teeth embedded in the muscle tissue of the pharynx (the passage to the gut) on either side of the mouth. When it captures food, it thrusts out it's teeth, extends the pharynx, and turns the mouth inside out. This is called an eversible proboscis, which is typical of errant worms. When the worm bites into food, it can pull the food deep into the pharynx. The bite from these worms can be painful, as many who fish can attest.
It further says of the clam worm that In a mature adult there are up to 200 segments with well-developed parapodia (swimming paddles). They have 4 eyes, and are generally 6 to 8 inches long, although they have been reported up to 36" long and 1 3/4" wide.
I can tell you right now I'll be happier if I never see a 3 foot clam worm swim up to me.
