The Sabellaria alveolata is the scientific name for the Honeycomb worm, which is a very weird looking worm. So before I tell you where its located and all of that I’m first going to tell you the general description of this worm. The size of a male honeycomb worm is 3-4 cm long and the Female is also 3-4 cm long and the typical abundance of this worm is that they have a high density. The color has many colors to it and these are orange, red, yellow, a little bit of blue, and some white. The honeycomb worm adapts around the sea and makes reefs that it lives in. This worm look like a fat worm with like a little tail that is skinnier on the end, it sort of has hair on the head and the mouth is really big, and it lastly has some legs on it that go from small to big and dark to light.
The Sabellaria alveolata is a suspension feeder which means it eats particles that are in the water such as minute living plants or small animals. The honeycomb worms do well in the ecosystem because there is a high density of these worms. The honeycomb worms are found in Britain and Ireland and are located on the south and east coasts. Even though these worms are located in only two places around the world there are a lot of Sabellaria Alveolata worms. Around the coasts of Ireland and Britai,n you would find many reefs that look like honeycombs because that is a home for the honeycomb worms which they have built to live inside of. There are a lot of Sabellaria Alveolata worms because when they lay eggs there are up to about 100,000-1,000,000 eggs that they lay. The honeycomb worms only live for up to 2-5 years and start to mature within the first year and their fist gamete is in July and their last gamete is also in July. Their population stays the same and unchanged because they are located in only Britain and Ireland and they lay a lot of eggs but they die often so they don’t grow or shrink in their population. It stays the same because the environment they live in stays the same and doesn’t have and hurricanes or tidal waves.
The Sabellaria Alveolata generally feeds on seston which is minute living organisms and particles of nonliving matter which float in water and contribute to turbidity. What allows them to compete for food with other worms or bugs is that the water aids them in getting their food and they live right next to the ocean where they can easily get their meals. They usually don’t have to compete for food but when they do it’s usually against worms and hardly ever water bugs. If any other worm or bugs come into their home then the honeycomb worms will risk their lives to protect their eggs and try not to hurt their home. Most of the time, other worms and bugs stay clear of their home. The Honeycomb worm doesn’t really have that many predators to be afraid of. This animal is mostly eaten by fish but the fish don’t come on land. Human beings will use this worm as fishing bait so their pretty scared of humans. What the worms do to avoid being used as bait is stay in their homes because people won’t stick their hand in the worm’s home. What stood out about my animal as I read about it was that they lay so many eggs a year and I didn’t even know worms laid eggs. What I mostly learned is where it lives and how it gets it food by suspension feeding and also feeding on seston.
Author: Jaris P
Published: 02/2008
Photo Credit: http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03408/html/img/brehm-18-003-3.jpg