May 18, 2006 - The dance of the sandwormThe Suffolk Times • May 1 8 , 2006 • i l l o
The dance of the sandworm
IT LOOKED LIKE THE perfect eve-
ning to try for weakfish at the mouth
of the creek. It took a little time to
convince Barbara it wouldn't be
too cold out there, but just in case, I
told her to put on an extra sweater
and, oh yes, to bring along a pair of
gloves. Little did I know that later,
when I was busy fishing, she would
produce a steaming cup of hot coffee,
along with a devilish smile.
I tried here and there,
where I'd always gotten
weakfish before, but not FO
a strike. How come? The
lilacs were out — that was ON
supposed to be a sure sign
the weaks were in, but that
was years ago.
Then that electronic com-
panion of Barbara's started
to ring. She pushed some
buttons on her cell phone and I could
hear an excited voice telling her some-
thing was going on in another part
of the creek. It seems Bob had gone
down to the dock to check on his boat,
when his flashlight happened to shine
into the water. What he saw boggled
his mind. Everywhere he pointed his
light, he told us, there were wiggling,
fish -like creatures charging about.
"You've got to see theml" he said.
That was enough for me; fishing
would have to wait. I told Bob, "We're
out fishing but we'll head right in
and be over." And so our plans were
changed and we were off on another
mini adventure. We sped back to the
dock, with spray flying as we hit an oc-
casional high wave. Then we were into
C
the creek, where we stowed down-
By the time we got to the dock it
was almost dark. How come dangling
hooks seem to have a special knack of
catching onto boat cushions, anchor
lines and, yes, even my jacket? But
again, Barbara was one step ahead of
me and had brought along a flashlight,
which came in mighty handy in the
"unhooking operation."
With the poles finally attached to
the rack on the roof of the
car, we headed for Bob's
is place a few miles away on
another branch of the creek.
When we got there, Bob
repeated his story. "In all
my years living on the creek
I have never seen anything
like this before. You'll see,
they're all over the place."
With his flashlight help-
ing us along our way to the dock, we
seemed to move faster and faster,
afraid this mystical event might be
over before we got there.
Once on the dock, Bob turned a
large spotlight he'd brought along on
the water and immediately we could
see what he was talking about. Incred-
ible masses of two- and three -inch
worm -like bodies were whirling about
in the fight Could they be doing some
kind of courtship ritual? They moved
so fast it was hard to figure out just
what they were. I had stopped by our
house on the way over and picked up
a fine mesh net that I immediately put
in the water. It was no problem getting
five or 10 bodies in one scoop. Back I
went for scoop after scoop, bringing in
NATURE
by Paul
Stoutenburgh
Lilacs are blooming and weakfish should be In. It you head out to fish, dress
warm, for these spring evenings can get cold on the water.
Most of us wouldn't consider a worm beautiful, but in the eyes of a sand-
worm, the opposite sex, with Its changing Iridescent colors, is what it's all
about. Each spring, the full moons and high spring tides find these dancing in
our creeks in what to them is a ballet of reproduction.
these strange creatures. In the bucket
they went. We'd take them home for
positive identification.
Bob shone his light out on the wa-
ter and as far as the beam could go,
there were little "blips" where these
creatures broke the surface of the
water in their mad dash after each
other in what seemed to be some sort
of mystical dance of ecstasy. For half
an hour we watched in amazement,
anxious to get back home to identify
our mystery dancers. We thanked Bob
for letting us in on this unusual event,
one we'd learn later takes place each
year when we have extra -high spring
tides that trigger "the mating game"
— the spectacle we'd just witnessed.
Back home with our bucket of
madly swimming creatures, we were
able to see more clearly just what
they were. We went to our reference
books and found
the exact descrip- What
lion of what we were triggers
witnessing.They
were sandworms, this show
also known by some of shows?
as elamworms, go-
ing through their colorful display
of courting. Some seemed to hang
in mid water and others vibrated
the whole length of their body then
dashed away. Once I saw a reddish
worm release tiny eggs. One book
says once the female releases her
eggs, the blue -green iridescent males
pass over the eggs, fertilizing them
with a cloud of sperm. The bucket lit-
erally was alive with both males and
females.
Man has only peeked into the
goings -on of these dancers in their
water world. What triggers this show
of shows? And why and where at the
end of a night of ecstasy do they all
disappear? Yet each year the perfor-
mance is repeated, with few of us ever
knowing what goes on in our creeks.
What do spring tides and full moons
have to do with these outbreaks of
elaborate courtship?
We know so little about the world
we live in. Yes, we know some of its
mysteries. We've even capitalized
on these lowly creatures by creating
worm farms, where the sandworms
are raised and sent out to the fishing
world, for they make one of the most
expensive but best baits for a wide
range of saltwater fish.
Yet the word "worm" turns many
people off. Most put up with the com-
mon earthworm, which, by the way,
is closely related to the sandworm.
I've seen the roughest, toughest men
squirm when it came to picking up
a sandworm or putting a worm on a
fishhook. Perhaps it's because sand -
worms can bite. Yes, they have power-
ful, scissor -like pincers that can nip if
you don't know one end of the worm
from the other.
Anyone who has poked around our
creeks and bays has probably at one
time or another come across a sand-
worm or two. They live in burrows
and under rocks, where they hide
during the daylight hours, coming
out only when it's dark to search out
small bits of marine life that venture
near their burrow.
It was an exciting night for both
Barbara and me. We thanked Bob
again for calling us so we could see
the famous mating game of the lowly
sandworm. One never knows what
will turn up on an evening's fishing
trip; the natural world never ceases to
amaze u&
CARPET
ONE
When it comes to flooring...
nobody does it better -
All types of flooring and
Window treatments including:
WOOD FLOORING
REFINISHING
CARPET CLEANING
1097 Route 58
Riverhead (631) 369 -3670
675 North Sea Rd.
Southampton (631) 287 -1070
(631) 288 -0848