Pottery Creek

Sept. 7, 2011, Afternoon

Pottery Creek, St Andrews, New Brunswick

Worms are Winners! This afternoon, just down the road from the Huntsman Marine Biology Centre we stopped by as the tide was receding at Pottery beach. A clay coloured beach on Passamaquoddy Bay, Pottery beach is home to an abundance of intertidal sea worms. From the common Red lined Worm to the exquisite Clam Worm, shaped like a centipede, this worm is mostly green and bright orange and can grow up to 10 inches.  Although those 10 inches does not compare to the Milky Ribbon Worm which can grow up to 4 feet in length, one was caught by Huntsman of that length just a few weeks earlier.

Shovels and buckets in hand, we dug into the beach and looked for these different worm species. As a group, we managed to find 7 different species, each with its own uniqueness. For example the Acorn Worm that has three vertically long segments each of different colours, yellow, pink and purple. This worm was also accompanied by other segmented worms such as the Blood Worm and the Clam Worm. The only non-segmented worm was the Milky Ribbon Worm. These segments provide not only flexibility and protection but a pre-cursor to the growth of limbs, scientific term "appendages". Interesting stuff, all in all we had a great afternoon and we hope to continue to have a good time whale watching tomorrow. Thanks to Tracey for helping us through the mud today and guiding us to the worms!

Jason Miller and George Perlman