Can Pinnipeds Fit in a Worm Forest?
In an alternate Earth, coral has been extinct for over 400 million years. In their place were the following:
- Bivalvia (clams, oysters, mussels)
- Cirripedia (barnacles)
- Canalipalpata (bristle-foot or fan-head worms)
Together, they make up a new kind of reefbuilding habitat called a "worm forest". In the 400 million years of the first worm forests being established, the worms took on many forms as they colonized every aquatic habitat--fresh or salt, warm or cold, shallow or deep.
But in regards to one group of chordates, this poses a problem. In shallow seawater, the density of a worm forest averages around 53 worms per acre. To specify the perspective, certain species of worms grow to seven feet tall and measure four centimeters in tubular diameter, while others grow to 260 feet tall and four inches wide.
Most pinnipeds--seals, sea lions and walruses--have so much blubber in their bodies that they're basically rounded in shape and heavy in weight--in other words, fat. Which is no problem in a coral reef (corals don't grow that tall) or in a kelp forest (being made of softer green or brown algae), but what about in a forest of calcium-skinned worms? With 53 individual worms per acre of seawater, can any species of pinniped swim through this kind of habitat?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/114707. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1 answer
An acre is, with rounding, a square with a side length of just under 210 feet.
With 53 worms per acre, each worm has about 820 ft/sq - Or, a square with a side length of just under 29 feet.
Dispersed evenly, your worms will be ~30ft apart. Plenty of room for pretty much anything not whale-sized to fit through.
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