Tangleworms are among the most appealing (if that’s possible) of the worms, chiefly because one doesn’t have to look at their bodies too much. They reside in tubes made of mucous, decorated with sand and pieces of shell and other debris. Their tentacles – the eponymous tangle – obscure their heads and extend from the top of the tube. The worm’s gills lie behind the tentacles. Each tentacle has a groove running down it, to channel food to the worm’s mouth, which lies at the tentacles’ base.
I have often mistaken orange thread-gilled worms (see below) for tangleworms. Orange thread-gilled worms are segmented worms that – should you dig one out from its hiding place – have soft bodies not covered by a tube of any kind. They are often found lurking among mussels.
