Serpulid reefs and their role in aquatic ecosystems: A global review

The Serpulidae are a large family of sedentary polychaetes, characterized by a calcareous habitation tube, which they cannot leave. The calcium carbonate tube is in the form of both aragonite and calcite, in fairly constant ratio for each taxon. Tubes are cemented firmly to any hard substrate (in only few species tubes are free). Although in the majority of the species the tubes encrust the substrate for all their length, the distal part may eventually detach and grow erectly. Certain species in dense populations build tubes vertical to the substrate in clumps and cement the tubes to each other. This gives serpulids the capability of forming reef-life structures when densely settling. Despite the relative smallness of the individual tubes (rarely longer than 15cm and wider than 1cm), such reef-like structures may cover tens of m