Biodiversity & Conservation

A sludge-worm - Tubifex tubifex

Tubifex tubifex

Image Whirling Disease Foundation - Tubifex tubifex.
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Distribution map

Tubifex tubifex recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Tubifex tubifex is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Annelida Segmented worms e.g. ragworms, tubeworms & fanworms
Class Clitellata Earthworms, pot worms and leeches
Authority (O F Müller, 1774)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Widely distributed around Britain and Ireland, but probably under recorded in surveys. Reported in the upper Forth, Humber, Thames, Tamar and Severn estuaries, also on the Norfolk coast east of Blyford, from mud in the Menai Strait, and from Belfast Lough
Habitat information icon Habitat information Inhabits cohesive muds in a variety of habitats and is tolerant of oxygen deficiency. It is especially abundant in polluted sediments and marginal habitats not occupied by many other species, e.g. upper estuaries where interstitial salinity is less than 5 psu.
Text page icon Description Tubifex tubifex is a slender segmented worm that may grow up to 20 cm in length. The number of body segments may number between 34-120 and have on each side an upper and lower bundle of chitinous bristles (setae), these are used for burrowing. The worm may appear red in colour owing to the possession of the respiratory pigment haemoglobin. The species is a hermaphrodite, with a complex reproductive system.
Identifying features
Reference to Brinkhurst (1982) and Brinkhurst & Jamieson (1971) is recommended.
  • Long, thin, segmented worm, that is red in colour.
  • Eyespots absent.
  • Testes in body segment X and male pore in segment XI.
  • Ovaries in body segment XI and spermatheca (sac-shaped invagination of body wall for receiving sperm during copulation) in segment X.
  • Dorsal setae hairs and pectinate setae occur from body segment II.
  • Hair setae (slender and tapering) and pectinate setae (double-pointed with a series of fine intermediate teeth between the two points) are present in the dorsal bundles of bristles.
  • Bifid (double-pointed) setae are present in ventral bundles of bristles.
  • Hair setae may be serrate.
  • There are no genital setae on mature specimens.
  • The penis sheaths are short, tub-shaped, thin and covered in wrinkles.
Additional information icon Additional information Oligochaetes are segmented, bilaterally symmetrical, cylindrical worms, with tapering ends. Typically each body segment possesses four bundles of setae (chitinous bristles projecting from the body). The setae vary considerably in size and shape, and between families, so are consequently used extensively in identification. Examination under a microscope and of internal anatomy is likely to be required for accurate identification (see Brinkhurst, 1982), and attention paid to the rather complex reproductive organs. The number of gonads, the position of one gonad relative to the other, and the body segments in which they occur are used to define families. In the Tubificidae the form of the male duct is used to define genera.

This review can be cited as follows:

Georgina Budd 2005. Tubifex tubifex. A sludge-worm. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 09/02/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4521>