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rocky shore index
  Online Guide to Chek Jawa
rocky shore
 
Keelworms
Family Serpulidae
click for enlarged image
 
 
The keelworm is a segmented worm that secretes a hard, chalky tube to protect their soft bodies. A little knob on a stalk, called the operculum, seals the opening from predators and reduces water loss at low tide.

Keelworm tubes are common under stones. Keelworms also encrust ship keels (thus their common name) and in fact, any hard surface that is immersed in the sea. For this reason, they are often considered pests.

Keelworm food: The keelworm is a filter feeder. The worm's head is topped by a fan of feathery tentacles that is extended at high tide. They also breathe through these feathery tentacles. 		 
click for enlarged image
quick facts
Tube 5-8cm long, common under stones on the rocky shore

Classification:
Class Polychaeta
Phylum Annelida
 
See also ...
Worms of Chek Jawa.

Links
Family Serpulidae: 'Plume Worms' by Lim Yun Ping on A Guide to Singapore Polychaetes on the National University of Singapore website: brief introduction and photos, as well as distribution in Singapore.
Family Serpulidae on the Marine Sedentary Polychaetes in Hong Kong website on the City University of Hong Kong website: brief introduction with photos of the worm out of its tube.

Other references
  • Tan, Leo W. H. & Ng, Peter K. L., 1988. A Guide to Seashore Life. The Singapore Science Centre, Singapore. 160 pp. online version
  • Ng, Peter K. L. & N. Sivasothi, 1999. A Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore II (Animal Diversity). Singapore Science Centre. 168 pp.
  • Barnes, Robert D. & Ruppert, Edward E., 1996. Invertebrate Zoology. Harcourt College Publishers. 6th Edition. pp. 1056, G-1-16, I-1-30.
  • Pechenik, Jan A., 2000. Biology of the Invertebrates. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Singapore. 578 pp.
  • Chuang, S. H., 1961. On Malayan Shores. Muwu Shosa, Singapore.225 pp., plates 1-112.
 

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