Biodiversity & Conservation

Blow lug - Arenicola marina - General information

Arenicola marina

Image Dr Matt Bentley - Specimen of Arenicola marina with proboscis everted. Image width 17 cm.
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Distribution map

Arenicola marina recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Arenicola marina is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Matt Bentley

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Annelida Segmented worms e.g. ragworms, tubeworms & fanworms
Class Polychaeta Bristleworms, e.g. ragworms, scaleworms, paddleworms, fanworms and tubeworms
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Found on all coasts around Britain and Ireland and widely in north-west Europe.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found from high water neap tidal level to the middle or lower shore in sand and muddy sand, living in a characteristic U or J-shaped burrow. Often reaches high abundances in sheltered estuarine sediments.
Text page icon Description Arenicola marina is the familiar lugworm, much prized as bait by anglers. This sedentary polychaete has a firm, cylindrical body divided into a thoracic and an abdominal region. The head is small, with no appendages or eyes although a rough proboscis may be visible. The thoracic region consists of 19 parapodia bearing segments (with chaetae), of which the last 13 bear bushy gills. The abdominal region is narrower and consists of many segments lacking chaetae and gills. Apart from the head, each segment is divided by 5 rings (annuli). Adults reach between 120 -200mm in length and vary in colour from pink to dark pink, red, green, dark brown or black. Digs a U or J-shaped burrow (20-40cm deep) with characteristic depressions at the head end (the 'blow hole') and a cast of defaecated sediment at the tail end. Feeds on detritus and micro-organisms in ingested sediment. The cast is large and often the colour of clean sand. Tolerates salinities down to 12 psu. Preyed on by flatfish and wading birds, which may 'nip' off the tail as it deposits casts. May be confused with Arenicola defodiens (the black lug) which is generally darker (usually black), longer (up to 270mm), burrows deeper (usually 40-70cm), rarely forms a 'blow hole', produces a finer, neater cast, prefers more exposed coasts rather than estuaries and differs in the number of annuli between the first 4 pairs of chaetae bearing segments and in the shape of the gills.

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters 2008. Arenicola marina. Blow lug. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2592>