May Video of the Month - Clam Worm

This month we welcomed Essex Technical High School students from Massachusetts to campus for a marine biology field course. While in search of marine worms at Pottery Creek the students were very fortunate to see lots of male clam worms (Nereis virens) spawning.  The females spawn while in their burrows in the sediment so were not seen. While spawning the males have a break down of their tissues and do not survive the process.  The lunar cycle and a rise in the water temperature seem to initiate the spawning swarm and it occurs for a very short period of time each year.  It was very exciting to see and experience this process.