[1][2] They are blind but have a very good sense of smell, and eat decaying meat, fish and seaweeds that have washed to shore.

[7] The worms can be collected from the sandy beach by attracting them to the surface with bait and subsequently extracting them from the sand by hand or with the aid of pliers.

[4] In 1979, Paxton re-classified them into their current taxonomy,[4] in what is regarded as the authority study on Australian beach worms.

[17] The caught worms are then used immediately as bait for fishing, or stored in a bucket of fresh sea water or a handful of damp sand for later use.

Worms can also be preserved by immersion in alcohol (commonly methylated spirits) for 5 seconds and then left to dry on newspaper and either stored in an insulated cooler or refrigerator or frozen.