The Ragworm 🪱Alien!

The Ragworm 🪱”Hediste Diversicolor”. It lives in the muddy seabeds of our UK shores. It’s pretty freaky looking, not too disimilar to a millipede. They hunt by making a net of mucus at the entrance to their burrows which catches plankton and other small food particles. If they don’t get much food, they venture out of their burrows in search of bigger food. They are normally brown but males go bright green during breeding season. Hence the name “Diversicolor”. Their “teeth” are made of a very tough lightweight material, unlike bone and tooth enamel, it is not mineralised with calcium, but formed by a rich protein with bound zinc ions. Many believe further research into this could lead to applications in the engineering world. Aside from that - they are a really good bait for fishing! #worm #fishing #bushcraft #survival