Biodiversity & Conservation

A sludge-worm - Tubificoides benedii

A sludge-worm

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Distribution map

Tubificoides benedii recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Tubificoides benedii 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 (Udekem, 1855)
Recent synonyms Edukemius benedii; Peloscolex benedeni; Tubificoides benedeni
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland On all coasts of Britain, probably under recorded in Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found in marine and brackish water cohesive muds.
Text page icon Description Tubificoides benedii is a slender worm that may grow up to 5.5 cm in length, with between 75-100 body segments. In Tubificoides benedii the body wall is thinly covered with cuticular folds (papillate) which give the worm a rough feel. The body segments have on each side an upper and lower bundle of chitinous bristles (setae), that are able to move and are used for burrowing. The worm may appear red in colour, owing to the possession of the respiratory pigment haemoglobin. Oligochaetes are hermaphrodites, with paired male and female sex organs opening separately on the underside.
Identifying features
Reference to Brinkhurst (1982) and Brinkhurst & Jamieson (1971) is recommended.
  • Thin, segmented worm, up to 5.5 cm in length, that is red in colour.
  • Eyespots absent.
  • Body wall thinly but evenly covered with papillae.
  • 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.
  • All setae indistinctly bifid (double-pointed) with reduced upper points, or simple-pointed.
  • Penis sheaths cylindrical with recurved distal end.
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 system. 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. Tubificoides benedii. 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=4523>