01-10-2008, 03:47 PM
I'm not so sure how well you'd be able to farm blood worms. Besides, the synthetic baits they make in place of the real thing actually works a whole lot better. I've attached a little info about blood worms below, maybe then you'll see why they would be near impossible to farm. I think the bulk of blood worms are harvested from the wild, not farmed.
Anatomy
Bloodworms have a creamy pink color, as their pale skin allows their red body fluids to show through. This is the origin of the name "bloodworm". At the 'head', bloodworms have four small antennae and small fleshy projections called parapodia running down their bodies. The parapodia also contain their gills, which they use to breathe. Bloodworms can grow up to 35 cm in length.
[/url] [[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glycera_%28genus%29&action=edit§ion=2"]edit[/url]] Ecology
Bloodworms are poor swimmers but good burrowers, living on the sandy or silty bottoms of the intertidal or subtidal regions. Though usually marine, they can tolerate low salt levels in the water, and also poor oxygen levels. Bloodworms and all water worms have adapted to life in the sand and silt for the protection it offers.
Bloodworms are carnivorous. They feed by extending a large [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis"]proboscis[/url] that bears four hollow jaws. The jaws are connected to glands that supply poison which they use to kill their prey, and their bite is painful even to a human. They are preyed on by other worms, by bottom-feeding [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish"]fish[/url] and [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacean"]crustaceans[/url], and by [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull"]gulls[/url].
Reproduction occurs in midsummer, when the warmer water temperature and lunar cycle among other factors triggers sexually mature worms to transform into a non-feeding stage called the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitoky"]epitoke[/url]. With enlarged [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapodia"]parapodia[/url], they swim to the surface of the water where both sexes release gametes, and then die.
The animals are unique in that they contain a lot of copper without being poisoned. Their jaws are unusually strong since they too contain the metal in the form of a copper-based chloride biomineral, known as atacamite. And unlike the clamworm (Nereis limbata), whose jaws contain the metal zinc, the copper in the mineral in the jaws of Glycera is actually present in its crystalline form. It is theorized that this copper is used as a catalyst for its poisonous bite.
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Anatomy
Bloodworms have a creamy pink color, as their pale skin allows their red body fluids to show through. This is the origin of the name "bloodworm". At the 'head', bloodworms have four small antennae and small fleshy projections called parapodia running down their bodies. The parapodia also contain their gills, which they use to breathe. Bloodworms can grow up to 35 cm in length.
[/url] [[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glycera_%28genus%29&action=edit§ion=2"]edit[/url]] Ecology
Bloodworms are poor swimmers but good burrowers, living on the sandy or silty bottoms of the intertidal or subtidal regions. Though usually marine, they can tolerate low salt levels in the water, and also poor oxygen levels. Bloodworms and all water worms have adapted to life in the sand and silt for the protection it offers.
Bloodworms are carnivorous. They feed by extending a large [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis"]proboscis[/url] that bears four hollow jaws. The jaws are connected to glands that supply poison which they use to kill their prey, and their bite is painful even to a human. They are preyed on by other worms, by bottom-feeding [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish"]fish[/url] and [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crustacean"]crustaceans[/url], and by [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull"]gulls[/url].
Reproduction occurs in midsummer, when the warmer water temperature and lunar cycle among other factors triggers sexually mature worms to transform into a non-feeding stage called the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitoky"]epitoke[/url]. With enlarged [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapodia"]parapodia[/url], they swim to the surface of the water where both sexes release gametes, and then die.
The animals are unique in that they contain a lot of copper without being poisoned. Their jaws are unusually strong since they too contain the metal in the form of a copper-based chloride biomineral, known as atacamite. And unlike the clamworm (Nereis limbata), whose jaws contain the metal zinc, the copper in the mineral in the jaws of Glycera is actually present in its crystalline form. It is theorized that this copper is used as a catalyst for its poisonous bite.
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