VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (2022). Ficopomatus enigmaticus. Niet-inheemse soorten in het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee en omliggende estuaria = Non-indigenous species from the Belgian part of the North Sea and estuaria. VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (VLIZ): Oostende. Diff. pag. pp.
Part of: Niet-inheemse soorten in het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee en omliggende estuaria = Non-indigenous species from the Belgian part of the North Sea and estuaria. VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (VLIZ): Ostend. ISSN 2983-5518
Related to:
VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (2020). Ficopomatus enigmaticus - Trompetkalkkokerworm, in: Verleye, T. et al.Niet-inheemse soorten in het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee en aanpalende estuaria. VLIZ Special Publication, 86: pp. 565-571, more
The Australian tubeworm Ficopomatus enigmaticus is a tube-building bristle worm that presumably originates from the southern hemisphere. The worm requires a hard substrate to establish itself. When the worm occurs in high densities, it forms reef structures with dimensions up to four metres in diameter and over two metres in height. The primary introduction may have occurred by attachment to ship hulls, via ballast water or along with transported molluscs. The Australian tubeworm was first observed in Belgium in 1950 in the port of Ostend, on the hull of a marine research vessel. Many consider these worms a pest because they form extensive reefs on ships and port infrastructures, but this is not yet the case along the Belgian coast.
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