The worms live in tubes made of sand and are filter feeders and detritivores.

[1] Members of this family live in tubes made of sand and shell fragments cemented together and attached to rocks.

Some species are colonial and the multitude of their tubes may create hummocks and even reefs.

The top of the tube can be closed by an operculum formed by several rings of bristles on the head of the worm.

The head also bears several fine feeding tentacles and a pair of small palps.