Bispira brunnea | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Annelida |
Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
Subclass: | Sedentaria |
Order: | Sabellida |
Family: | Sabellidae |
Genus: | Bispira |
Species: | B. brunnea |
Binomial name | |
Bispira brunnea (Treadwell, 1917) [1] | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Bispira brunnea, the social feather duster or cluster duster, [2] is a species of marine bristleworm. [3] They tend to live in groups of individuals, and are common off the Caribbean islands in southeast North America. The feather duster has one crown of various colors, however, the color of the crown seems to be consistent within individual colonies. [4]
This worm was first described in 1917 by the American zoologist Aaron Louis Treadwell, a specialist in annelids, who gave it the name Metalaonome brunnea. It was later transferred to the genus Bispira , becoming Bispira brunnea. The type locality is somewhere in the Bahamas. [1]
Like other worms in the family Sabellidae, Bispira brunnea secretes itself a soft, non-calcareous tube, about 40 mm (1.6 in) in length from which it projects when feeding and into which it can retract. The tube is cemented to a hard surface, such as coral or rock, and white sand grains are cemented to the outside, using secretions from a gland just behind the worm's head. The trunk is segmented and the head bears the mouth, the sensory organs and a crown of radioles (feather-like tentacles). There are 18 to 28 radioles arranged in two semicircular whorls. [5]
This worm tends to grow in colonial groups; the crowns of radioles sway together with movements of the water, and when one is stimulated to retract, the others do likewise. [6] They are sensitive to vibrations in the water and thus difficult to observe. Colours are very variable, but the individuals in each group tend to have similar colourings; brown, orange, purple or banded, and often darker in the centre. [5]
This worm is found throughout the Caribbean region and around the Bahamas and is often common. The tubes grow on rocks, corals and sandy sediment, under overhangs and in crevices, at depths down to about 35 m (115 ft). They prefer areas with vigorous water movement where there is plenty of suspended organic material and plankton. [5]
Bispira brunnea feeds on plankton which are filtered from the water by the radioles. Lubricated by mucus, small pinnules move the food particles down a groove in the radiole to the worm's mouth in the centre of the crown. Whole colonies are either male, female or hermaphrodite. It is likely that these worms are protandrous hermaphrodites, starting life as males and becoming females when they are larger. If the crown is nipped off by a predator, it is able to regenerate in a few weeks. [5]
Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of the adult is the polyp; this consists of a cylindrical column topped by a disc with a central mouth surrounded by tentacles. Sea anemones are mostly solitary, but the majority of corals are colonial, being formed by the budding of new polyps from an original, founding individual. Colonies are strengthened by calcium carbonate and other materials and take various massive, plate-like, bushy or leafy forms.
Pillar coral is a hard coral found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Dendrogyra. It is a digitate coral -that is, it resembles fingers or a cluster of cigars, growing up from the sea floor without any secondary branching. It is large and can grow on both flat and sloping surfaces at depths down to 20 m (65 ft). It is one of the few types of hard coral in which the polyps can commonly be seen feeding during the day.
Spirobranchus giganteus, commonly known as the Christmas tree worm, is a tube-building polychaete worm belonging to the family Serpulidae.
Sabellidae, or feather duster worms, are a family of marine polychaete tube worms characterized by protruding feathery branchiae. Sabellids build tubes out of a tough, parchment-like exudate, strengthened with sand and bits of shell. Unlike the other sabellids, the genus Glomerula secretes a tube of calcium carbonate instead. Sabellidae can be found in subtidal habitats around the world. Their oldest fossils are known from the Early Jurassic.
Sabella pavonina, commonly known as the peacock worm, is a marine polychaete worm belonging to the family Sabellidae. They can be found along the coasts of Western Europe and the Mediterranean. It is found in shallow, tidal waters with a bed of mud, sand or gravel. It is sometimes found on rocks or shipwrecks.
Schizobranchia insignis is a marine feather duster worm. It may be commonly known as the split-branch feather duster, split-plume feather duster, and the feather duster worm. It may be found from Alaska to Central California, living on pilings and rocks, intertidal to 46 m. It is particularly abundant on the underside of wharves in Puget Sound, Washington, and on wharves at Boston Harbor marina.
Porites astreoides, commonly known as mustard hill coral or yellow porites, is a colonial species of stony coral in the family Poritidae.
A radiole is a heavily ciliated feather-like tentacle found in highly organized clusters on the crowns of Canalipalpata. Canalipalpata is an order of sessile marine polychaete worms consisting of 31 families. These benthic annelid tube worms employ radioles primarily for alimentation. While their primary role is to function as an organ for filter feeding, radioles also serve as respiratory organs. Because of their role in gas exchange, radioles are often referred to as "gills".
Sabellastarte spectabilis is a species of benthic marine polychaete worm in the Sabellidae family. It is commonly known as the feather duster worm, feather duster or fan worm. It is native to tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific but has spread to other parts of the world. It is popular in aquariums because of its distinctive appearance and its ability to remove organic particles and improve water quality.
Eudistylia is a genus of marine polychaete worms. The type species is Eudistylia gigantea, now accepted as Eudistylia vancouveri. This worm lives in a parchment-like tube with a single opening from which a crown of tentacles projects when the worm is submerged. It is a sessile filter feeder. the Eudistylia Vancouveri is unique because it has an opiculum which makes it possible to fully retract into the tube when predators are sensed.
Eudistylia polymorpha, the giant feather duster worm, is a species of marine polychaete worm belonging to the family Sabellidae. Its common name is from the crown of tentacles extended when the animal is under water.
Serpula vermicularis, known by common names including the calcareous tubeworm, fan worm, plume worm or red tube worm, is a species of segmented marine polychaete worm in the family Serpulidae. It is the type species of the genus Serpula and was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of Systema Naturae. It lives in a tube into which it can retract.
Diploria is a monotypic genus of massive reef building stony corals in the family Mussidae. It is represented by a single species, Diploria labyrinthiformis, commonly known as grooved brain coral and is found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It has a familiar, maze-like appearance.
Sabella spallanzanii is a species of marine polychaete worms in the family Sabellidae. Common names include the Mediterranean fanworm, the feather duster worm, the European fan worm and the pencil worm. It is native to shallow waters in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It has spread to various other parts of the world and is included on the Global Invasive Species Database.
Madracis auretenra, commonly known as the yellow finger coral or yellow pencil coral, is a colonial species of stony coral in the family Pocilloporidae. It is a fairly common species and is found in the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean. At one time this species was not recognised, but it was split from Madracis mirabilis on the grounds of morphology and depth range.
Salmacina dysteri is a species of tube-forming annelid worm in the family Serpulidae. It is found on submerged rocks, reefs, piles and boats in many shallow and deeper water environments around the world.
Bispira volutacornis, sometimes known by the common names twin fan worm or spiral fan worm, is a type of tube worm found in the shallow sublittoral zone of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Bispira volutacornis has a parchment-like tube with a mucoid outer layer which is often coated with mud or silt. The tube is usually concealed in a crevice and the worm can retract into the tube when disturbed.
Serpula columbiana, variously called the calcareous tubeworm, plume worm, fan worm, limy tube worm and red tube worm, is a species of segmented marine polychaete worm in the family Serpulidae. It is a cosmopolitan species that is found in most seas in the Northern Hemisphere including the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
Hydroides ezoensis is a species of tube-forming annelid worm in the family Serpulidae. It is native to the temperate northern Pacific and the central Indo-Pacific and is found in the intertidal zone and on submerged rocks, shells, pilings, jetties and boats.
Chorizopora brongniartii is a species of bryozoan in the family Chorizoporidae. It is an encrusting bryozoan, the colonies forming spreading patches. It has a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate seas.