Fresh seaweeds, shellfish, & marine life producta
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Sea Life & Seaweed

Sea life from the Northern Atlantic Ocean. 50 degree F salt water species. Gulf of Maine Inc. supplies sea life, beach plants, and aquarium substrates from Maine, collected by hand.

Aquarium substrates

Arthropods

Bony fishes

Brachiopods

Bryozoa

Cartilaginous fishes

Cnidaria

Echinoderms

Gulf of Maine assortments

Macroalgae

Molluscs

Plankton

Saltwater plants

Sponges

Tunicates

Worms

Lugworm (Arenicola), Live, Bait

Lugworm (Arenicola), Live, Bait

from $80.00

Common name: lugworm    

Scientific name:  Arenicola cristata

Locations: mid-low tide in sandy mud flats

Seasonality:  available all year

Colors:  range in color from dark black/brown to light tan

Size:  3”  - 6”

Collected:  by hand, digging fork

Quantity:  sold by the each

per pack:
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A variety of lugworms.

A variety of lugworms.

Tidepool Tim says,  "Lugworms are a challenging worm to find and to dig up!  For years my success rate was about 30%...I'd dig and dig and dig and maybe get a dozen worms for a few hours work.  Finally, by half luck and half experience, I realized how to approach them. Lugworms live in a tube-shaped burrow and so there are two ends to their mud-encased homes. 

At the tail end, there is a distinctive pile of their poop (castings).  The Sheehan kids and I call this the 'volcano' - it literally looks like a small volcano.  At the other end (this was the challenge to recognize) is the 'swimming pool'. At this end, there is actually a small puddle of water. I think that the lugworm somehow creates this depression in the mud.  In this way, when the tide recedes, the anterior end of the worm still has a bit of seawater in this puddle from which to extract oxygen maybe?

So long story short; once I realized that the worm could be found in a straight line between the volcano and the swimming pool - the rest was history!  Viola!  Now I can dig lugworms with at least a 95% success rate.  Occasionally I still find no worm or worse -  cut one in half with my digger.  Either way, it's much improved. 

Anatomically lugworms have a neat anterior end with exterior gills, bristly setae (to hold them in their burrows) and a sacrificial posterior end.  On this end of the worm, I noticed that the segments are able to quickly fracture and leave a chunk of worm writhing in the sand.  To me this appears to be a distracting motion - perhaps to allow seagulls or crabs to grab the end of the worm and not sacrifice the worm itself - pretty cool really!  Lugworms are the largest worm we offer - sometimes they are thicker than my thumb - pretty impressive.”

 

Micruran Worm (Micrura spp.)

Micruran Worm (Micrura spp.)

from $28.00
Trumpet Worm (Pectinaria gouldii)

Trumpet Worm (Pectinaria gouldii)

from $60.00
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Fifteen-scaled Worm (Harmothoe imbricata)

from $30.00
Spiral Tube Worm (Spirobis) RkMyQTJGNDAxRDg2Nzg5MDFBQ0Q6YzlmYjM4YjEyNWViZmEwZmZkNjM1OTBkNzgxMzg4NjQ6Ojo6OjA=.jpeg

Spiral Tube Worm (Spirobis)

from $95.00
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Bamboo Worm (Clymenella torquata)

from $12.00