In 1826 he read a paper on sea-worms to the Natural History Society. This paper was his first known work on this subject.

The deep sea typically has a sparse fauna dominated by tiny worms and crustaceans, with an even sparser distribution of larger animals.

Sea stars, crabs, shrimp and worms live in the limbs of these corals as birds and insects do in the branches of trees in a rainforest.