. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 61 REARING LUGWORMS FOR FISH BAIT By John L. Taylor* and Carl H. Saloman* The lugworm, Arenicola cristata (Stimpson), is a prospect for bait worm aquiculture. It is an excellent bait for sport fishes and has characteristics that suit it well for rearing under arti- ficial conditions. Preliminary experiments show thatlugworms can be grown in sediment trays submerged in a sea-water sys- tem. In 6 months, Z2 worms worth $3. 00 were grown in a tray, 39 in, square (1 m, ) by 6 in. (15 cm,) deep, in a 6-in. layer of sand. At present, the bait wor
. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 61 REARING LUGWORMS FOR FISH BAIT By John L. Taylor* and Carl H. Saloman* The lugworm, Arenicola cristata (Stimpson), is a prospect for bait worm aquiculture. It is an excellent bait for sport fishes and has characteristics that suit it well for rearing under arti- ficial conditions. Preliminary experiments show thatlugworms can be grown in sediment trays submerged in a sea-water sys- tem. In 6 months, Z2 worms worth $3. 00 were grown in a tray, 39 in, square (1 m, ) by 6 in. (15 cm,) deep, in a 6-in. layer of sand. At present, the bait worm business depends on digging for two species--the blood worm, Glycera dibranchiata, and the clam worm. Nereis vir e ns. The annual who le s ale value of these worms in the United States is $ million, but both species have biological features that make them poorly suited for aquiculture. This report introduces the idea of rearing the lugworm, Arenicola cristata (Stimpson), for fish bait (fig, 1). This species occurs along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States, and related species have worldwide distribution in shallow, temperate seas (Wells, 1962), Lugworms and other large sea worms are collected and sold for bait, but to our knowledge none is cultivated for that purpose (Pope, 1961),. Fig. 1 - The lugworm, Arenicola cristata (Stimpson), from Tan Bay, Fla., reared under artificial conditions for 6 months. THE SEA WORM BUSINESS The sea worm business was established in the United States about 1900 and is based on two species of worms collected along the north '"'Fishery Biologists, BCF Biological Laboratory, St. Petersburg Beach, Florida 33706. Note: Contribution No. 46. Atlantic coast--the blood worm, Glycera di- branchiata Ehlers. and the clam worm. Nereis virens Sars (Westman, 1939; MacPhail, 1954; Klawe and Dickie, 1957), These worms supply bait for sport fisheries along the mid-Atlantic states for a variety of fishes that include blackfish, blue
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