Angel Fitor
Unseen Unsung Heroes
Worms flush sand out of their burrows, Spain, 2023
Category - Ocean Worlds
As members of the endofauna – a huge, diverse community adapted to underground life at sea – these burrowing worms play a pivotal role in maintaining oxygen and nutrient circulation in the upper layer of sediment on the seabed, an activity that generates an entire ecosystem hidden under the substrate. All the seagrass beds along the world’s coasts, the riches of coastal estuaries and deep-water muddy beds, and the vast biodiversity associated with soft-bottom sea floors rely on the existence of these little-known worms. Their collective silent action thus has a massive impact on a global scale. On location, it was impossible to predict when the worms would be active. Some seemed dormant, others flushed for just a few minutes a day, while others were active throughout the day, but with an unpredictable frequency. This photo is the result of two month’s work, with twenty dives of five hours each, at a depth of eight metres.
15-30 mm f/2.8 - 1/160 sec at f/20 ISO 125