The Ragworm is a reddish-brown segmented worm that is also known as the Harbour Worm. It can be found all along the English coast where there are muddy shorelines and also in estuaries, but it is very rarely seen because it lives in burrows. The burrows can be ‘U’ or ‘J’ shaped and as deep as twenty metres.

The Ragworm can grow up to six to twelve centimetres in length and it has a body that is divided into around ninety to one hundred and twenty segments. It has a flattened body and each segment has a pair of leg-like flaps called ‘parapods’ which are covered in tiny bristles. The parapods help the Ragworm to crawl and swim. It also has a ‘toothed proboscis’ which is a long thread-like tubular organ that shoots out of the worm’s mouth when it wants to feed. The Ragworm sometimes bites and the bite feels a bit like that of a bee sting.

The female Ragworm carries the eggs inside her body until they are ready to hatch and then releases them in her burrow. Both the male and female Ragworm die shortly after the eggs have been released. The newly hatched larvae stay very close to the burrow where they develop into adult Ragworms.