CreatureData

Tube worm

Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel, 1923)

Status not recordedworms

The tube worm (Ficopomatus enigmaticus) is a species in the family Serpulidae, order Sabellida.

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Quick facts about the tube worm

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the tube worm live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the tube worm as introduced in 27 countries, and flagged as invasive in 13 of them.

  1. Argentinainvasive
  2. Croatiainvasive
  3. Denmarkinvasive
  4. Franceinvasive
  5. Italyinvasive
  6. Japaninvasive
  7. Romaniainvasive
  8. South Africainvasive
  9. Tunisiainvasive
  10. Türkiyeinvasive
  11. Ukraineinvasive
  12. United Kingdominvasive
  13. Uruguayinvasive
  14. Belgium
  15. Bulgaria
  16. Egypt
  17. Germany
  18. Greece
  19. Ireland
  20. Israel
  21. New Zealand
  22. Portugal
  23. Slovenia
  24. South Korea
Show 3 more countries
  1. Spain
  2. Turkmenistan
  3. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the tube worm endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the tube worm classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumAnnelida
  3. classPolychaeta
  4. orderSabellida
  5. familySerpulidae
  6. genusFicopomatus
  7. SpeciesFicopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel, 1923)

Synonyms Mercierella enigmatica, Phycopomatus enigmaticus

Other names and names in other languages (12)
  • Australian tubewormEnglish
  • Estuarine tube-wormEnglish
  • MercierellaCatalan
  • Australsk kalkrørsormDanish
  • Tüten-KalkröhrenwurmGerman
  • Poliqueto incrustanteSpanish
  • CascailFrench
  • カニヤドリカンザシゴカイJapanese
  • trompetkalkkokerwormDutch
  • Australisk kalkrörsmaskSwedish
  • mercierelleFrench
  • Trompet-kalkkokerwormDutch

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the tube worm

Other species in the same genus Ficopomatus.

CompareTube worm vs Ficopomatus macrodonTube worm vs Ficopomatus miamiensisTube worm vs Ficopomatus shenzhensisTube worm vs Ficopomatus talehsapensis

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the tube worm an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the tube worm as invasive in 13 countries, including Argentina, Croatia, Denmark, France and Italy. It lists it as introduced in 27 in all.

What kind of animal is the tube worm?

The tube worm (Ficopomatus enigmaticus) belongs to the family Serpulidae in the order Sabellida.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Tube worm (Ficopomatus enigmaticus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/tube-worm

MLA

“Tube worm (Ficopomatus enigmaticus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/tube-worm.

BibTeX
@misc{tube_worm_2026,
  title = {Tube worm (Ficopomatus enigmaticus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/tube-worm},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}