Category: Segmented Worms view all from this category

Description 12" (30 cm) long, 1" (25 mm) wide. Firm and sturdy, thick in front, with tapering head and tail end, skin coarse and checkered. Greenish-black. Head without appendages or eyes; mouth with bulbous proboscis covered with short, fingerlike projections. Each segment with 5 rings, the thickest with tufts of long bristles above and ridged furrows with shorter hooks below.

Habitat Burrowing in sandy mudflats in protected places; near low-tide line and just below.

Range Cape Cod to Florida and Louisiana; entire Pacific Coast.

Discussion To feed, the Lugworm pumps water into its burrow, thus irrigating its gills and collapsing the muddy sand at the end of the burrow. It then eats that sand, from which it digests the organic matter. Periodically, the worm backs up to the surface to void the undigested sand and mud. Another species, the Northern Lug Worm (A. marina), 8" (20 cm) long and 3/4" (19 mm) wide, found north of Cape Cod, extrudes its feces as a "casting ," a rope of sandy mud lightly held together by mucus.