Honeycomb Worm Reefs

Have seen the honeycomb worm reefs at low tide along Cleveleys beach? You probably have – and possibly wondered what they are!

Whether or not they are visible depends on how much the beach has been moved about by the tides and weather. During rough sea conditions, the sand is scoured out and a wide band of reef can be seen. It runs parallel to the edge of the water, across most of Cleveleys and Rossall beach.

Take a Look at the Honeycomb Worm Reefs

We went out to low water to take a closer look –

At first glance it looks like a sort of fibrous thick mud, as if there’s wood in it. In fact for a long time we thought it was part of the petrified forest – but it’s not.

On closer inspection you can see that it’s a huge mass of protective, honeycomb shaped tubes. The little Sabellaria worms build it from bits of sand and shell, glued together with mucus, as their place to live!

What’s a Honeycomb Worm?

The Honeycomb worm’s proper name is Sabellaria alveolata. It’s an annelid, or ringed worm, and adults are only 3-4cm long. That’s less than 2″. They’re filter feeders and eat microscopic particles of food that they filter out of the sea water. They do this by extending a plume-like fan from the end of the tube in order to catch plankton and detritus floating past.

Found in waters from Britain as far south as Morocco, in UK seas it’s mainly in southern and western coasts. Worms have been recorded as living for up to nine years!

The huge honeycomb worm reefs here on the Fylde Coast encourage biodiversity. The reefs are home to all kinds of invertebrates and small marine animals. In turn they’re food for larger fish and sea birds. When the tide goes out you’ll see flocks of birds picking over the surface for the food that hides there.

Did you know? That Sabellaria alveolata was listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, published in 1994?

New Honeycomb Worm Reefs

Interestingly, along with the huge, well established reefs on the beach, these industrious little creatures have also set up home elsewhere at Cleveleys. Small new reefs are starting to grow on the large rock groyne opposite The Venue on North Promenade.

You can see them on the seaward end of the groyne, on the north side of the rocks where they’re a bit more protected from the tide.

Did you know? That honeycomb worms are a species first described in 1767? Wonder if they’ve been on our beach since then?

Who knows whether these little worms have been making reefs at Cleveleys since 1767. But they have certainly been there a long time. The next video is from 14 April 2020, when we paddled through the mud to take a look at the portion of reef visible that day.

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