Tubeworms live in colonies and are most successful in shallow, warm, saline water that contains a large amount of organic matter. They are able to deal with large changes in salinity, ranging from fresh to highly saline water conditions.

Tubeworms are small worms that live in water and build hard carbonate/limestone tubes. Tubeworms, or “Featherdusters”, have feathery headdresses which they use for gas exchange and to extract suspended food particles from the sea-water.