A shell full of tubes
I found this intriguing limpet shell high up on the White Shore at the western edge of Culag Woods on 1st March 2016.
The tubes inside the shell were created by a colony of tube-dwelling polychaetes, or segmented worms. These tubes have a variety of uses including protection for the worms’ soft bodies, to lairs for catching passing prey. They also allow the worms to live attached to rocks, shells and sea-weed.
The limpet itself would have been dead before the worms colonised the inside of its shell. It is, however quite common to find such tubes on the outside of living limpets.
There are no worms in the tubes shown as they are very sensitive to desiccation, and this shell had been out of the water for quite a while.
David Haines