Seeding a Lugworm or Ragworm Bed

[phanover]

I'm sure that many of you have come across the situation where all the good lugworm or ragworm beds are either dug out or a good distance away. This got me thinking..

There are several places nearer to me that would suggest that they should support a population of either lugworm or ragworm, but don't. So I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried "seeding" some freshly dug lug or rag into another location? Would it work?

[g.wyse]

I'm sure someone will come up with some ecological reason not to do this,but i have a fair idea of where u'r on about and i've heard there used to be an area not far away where people used to dig lug but is not now accessible(across private land or something like that :( apparently also used to be great for flounder which is why i asked about fishing that high up the estuary before :? )..now i'm not sure if this is true but if it is then i can't see why some kind of seeding couldn't work but how long would it take to build up enough to be able to call it a bait gathering area.

[samo]

i have taight about this aswell but i would say lug or rag would be in areas that are suitable for them perhaps the conditions in the area you want to plant are not suitable conditions for lug or rag to live in

[blaker]

On a number of occassions I have brought rag from Dublin to Courtmac in an attempt to get a colony going.
Epic failures to be honest. Aas you say, if they're no there already its because they don't want to be!

[lumpy]

do rag need a more specific type of enviroment. ive dug lug in every type of ground from what was basically gravel to pure s%*t, but only found rag in small collanies in very thick smelly mud (king rag i mean)

[Senor Feeshy]

I've thought of doing this myself. I used to dig them in Dun Laoghaire at the start of the west pier
until the feckin yaught people thought it would be nice to fill it in for a car park.

I always found the absence of rag surprising along the south/west coasts. Maybe yis just wont tell us where they are ;)

As Mr Wyse said, there could be ecological reasons against seeding such as introducing diseases to another area or
maybe the rag could prey on some organism that are beneficial to local habitat etc.

My reckoning would be that if the sand and substrate looks like they should be there they probably were at some stage but got wiped out.
A very sheltered spot may be required as their larvae are planktonic and easily dispersed before they are big enough to grow and colonise the area.
Tidal variations could play a role too. Their spawning cycles are are closely linked to moon phases.

I'd say forget everything I said and just give it a lash ;)

feesh

[wilson]

Is there no way of breeding rag or lug worm i know some people do it with earth worms in big containers but never heard of somebody trying it with the lug or rag

[alancooper]

Sea animals mainly seem to reproduce by producing massive numbers of plankton (eggs/larvae?). They are able to "find" suitable habitats easily by this method. The likelihood is that is lug/rag do not occur at a site, conditions are not right and "seeding" will be pointless.

[Ryan]

Is there no way of breeding rag or lug worm i know some people do it with earth worms in big containers but never heard of somebody trying it with the lug or rag

These guys [url=http://www.seabait.com]Seabait[/url] breed & rear the rag just like the guys who do earthworms.

[contender]

Interesting read about the seabait people.. Must be someone on this island that breed the worms, where do most of the tackle shops get them from?