Termites of the Sea: Beach Finds

Personally I had never heard there was a “termite of the sea” but I know I don’t know everything. Today’s “Sun Herald. Com” brings us an article about these creatures. It makes sense that there would be creatures that eat wood in the ocean; we’ve all seen driftwood on the beach. The wood comes from trees that are downed due to storms as well as the wood from ship wrecks and scuttled boats. Naturally there would be an awful lot more wood in the ocean and on our beaches if something wasn’t eating it!

George Thatcher writes a blog called Scenes from the Beach and that’s where I found out about “termites of the sea” the Teredo. Once believed to be a “shipworm”, these are the creatures responsible for the irreparable damage to one of Columbus’ ships in 1503! Now these are known to be a marine bivalve mollusk that tunnels into the wood and then lives in the tunnel it has created. These tunnels never cross each other inside the wood, giving the driftwood a drilled look.

Now the internet has adopted the term; because of the tunneling properties of these creatures we have the “Teredo” protocol. The protocol delivers packets of information from one location on the web to another, without crossing another packet en route.

It’s an interesting bit of trivia for people in the business of controlling termites in Arizona. Okay so I love finding new things I never heard of before. The point is that we have the ability to take care of the termite problems on land; in the sea there are creatures that can only be controlled by prevention which includes using materials they can’t tunnel through. In our homes the first step is to make sure there is nothing around the foundations to attract termites. Clear away debris from trees around your home, garage, shed or other buildings on your property. Make sure you get a termite inspection each year, and get a termite prevention plan from your pest control company.

Scottsdale AZ –

Termite Control Arizona

6501 East Greenway Parkway #103
Scottsdale AZ

(480) 582-1085