Lamellibrachia barhami | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Annelida |
Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
Subclass: | Sedentaria |
Order: | Sabellida |
Family: | Siboglinidae |
Genus: | Lamellibrachia |
Species: | L. barhami |
Binomial name | |
Lamellibrachia barhami Webb, 1969 | |
Lamellibrachia barhami is a large pogonophore. [1]
Its tentacular crown is formed of several, fused, horseshoe-shaped tentacle lamellae. The second segment has two body folds, near which open the genital ducts. The trunk, which comprises 89% of its total body length, is undifferentiated. The true metasoma is without setae. The heart is a simple muscular elaboration of the anterior end of the ventral blood vessel. The brain is large, and from it arises a pair of intraepidermal nerve cords, which extend the full length of the vestimental region; thereafter, they join and form the a nerve cord of the trunk. Associated with the brain and the nerve cords are the dorsal tubes. [1]
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes that impact the body, then works in tandem with the endocrine system to respond to such events. Nervous tissue first arose in wormlike organisms about 550 to 600 million years ago. In vertebrates it consists of two main parts, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord. The PNS consists mainly of nerves, which are enclosed bundles of the long fibers or axons, that connect the CNS to every other part of the body. Nerves that transmit signals from the brain are called motor nerves or efferent nerves, while those nerves that transmit information from the body to the CNS are called sensory nerves or afferent. Spinal nerves are mixed nerves that serve both functions. The PNS is divided into three separate subsystems, the somatic, autonomic, and enteric nervous systems. Somatic nerves mediate voluntary movement. The autonomic nervous system is further subdivided into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is activated in cases of emergencies to mobilize energy, while the parasympathetic nervous system is activated when organisms are in a relaxed state. The enteric nervous system functions to control the gastrointestinal system. Both autonomic and enteric nervous systems function involuntarily. Nerves that exit from the cranium are called cranial nerves while those exiting from the spinal cord are called spinal nerves.
The Sipuncula or Sipunculida is a class containing about 162 species of unsegmented marine annelid worms. The name Sipuncula is from the genus name Sipunculus, and comes from the Latin siphunculus meaning a "small tube".
Siboglinidae is a family of polychaete annelid worms whose members made up the former phyla Pogonophora and Vestimentifera. The family is composed of around 100 species of vermiform creatures which live in thin tubes buried in sediment (Pogonophora) or in tubes attached to hard substratum (Vestimentifera) at ocean depths ranging from 100 to 10,000 m. They can also be found in association with hydrothermal vents, methane seeps, sunken plant material, and whale carcasses.
Polychaeta is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. More than 10,000 species are described in this class. Common representatives include the lugworm and the sandworm or clam worm Alitta.
Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspots. Hydrothermal deposits are rocks and mineral ore deposits formed by the action of hydrothermal vents.
A cold seep is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool. Cold does not mean that the temperature of the seepage is lower than that of the surrounding sea water. On the contrary, its temperature is often slightly higher. The "cold" is relative to the very warm conditions of a hydrothermal vent. Cold seeps constitute a biome supporting several endemic species.
Oligochaeta is a subclass of animals in the phylum Annelida, which is made up of many types of aquatic and terrestrial worms, including all of the various earthworms. Specifically, oligochaetes comprise the terrestrial megadrile earthworms, and freshwater or semiterrestrial microdrile forms, including the tubificids, pot worms and ice worms (Enchytraeidae), blackworms (Lumbriculidae) and several interstitial marine worms.
Alvinella pompejana, the Pompeii worm, is a species of deep-sea polychaete worm. It is an extremophile found only at hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, discovered in the early 1980s off the Galápagos Islands by French marine biologists.
Riftia pachyptila, commonly known as the giant tube worm and less commonly known as the giant beardworm, is a marine invertebrate in the phylum Annelida related to tube worms commonly found in the intertidal and pelagic zones. R. pachyptila lives on the floor of the Pacific Ocean near hydrothermal vents. The vents provide a natural ambient temperature in their environment ranging from 2 to 30 °C, and this organism can tolerate extremely high hydrogen sulfide levels. These worms can reach a length of 3 m, and their tubular bodies have a diameter of 4 cm (1.6 in).
Haplodrili, or Archiannelida, is an order of primitive polychaete worms. Zoologist Ray Lankester gave it the name haplodrili, while zoologist Berthold Hatschek later named it Archiannelida. Once considered to be a class under Annelida, and even a separate phylum, Haplodrili is now widely accepted to be an order under Polychaeta. Species in this order are known for completely lacking external segments.
The ventral nerve cord is a major structure of the invertebrate central nervous system. It is the functional equivalent of the vertebrate spinal cord. The ventral nerve cord coordinates neural signaling from the brain to the body and vice versa, integrating sensory input and locomotor output. Because arthropods have an open circulatory system, decapitated insects can still walk, groom, and mate—illustrating that the circuitry of the ventral nerve cord is sufficient to perform complex motor programs without brain input.
Paralvinella sulfincola, also known as the sulfide worm, is a species of polychaete worm of the Alvinellidae family that thrives on undersea hot-water vents. It dwells within tubes in waters surrounding hydrothermal vents, in close proximity to super-heated fluids reaching over 300 °C (572 °F). The upper thermal limit for this polychaete is unknown; however, it is unlikely they can survive in constant temperatures over 50 °C (122 °F). It may tentatively be named a metazoan extremophile or, more specifically, a thermophile.
Campylobacterota are a phylum of bacteria. All species of this phylum are Gram-negative.
Chrysomallon squamiferum, commonly known as the scaly-foot gastropod, scaly-foot snail, sea pangolin, or volcano snail is a species of deep-sea hydrothermal-vent snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Peltospiridae. This vent-endemic gastropod is known only from deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, where it has been found at depths of about 2,400–2,900 m (1.5–1.8 mi). C. squamiferum differs greatly from other deep-sea gastropods, even the closely related neomphalines. In 2019, it was declared endangered on the IUCN Red List, the first species to be listed as such due to risks from deep-sea mining of its vent habitat.
Symphurus thermophilus is a species of tonguefish notable for being the only flatfish known to be an obligate inhabitant of hydrothermal vents. It is known from several widely dispersed locations in the western Pacific Ocean and occurs in great numbers. They are tolerant of harsh conditions and are often found in close association with elemental sulfur, including molten sulfur pools that exceed 180 °C in temperature. As they are not significantly different in appearance and feeding habits from other tonguefishes, they are thought to be relatively recent colonizers of vent ecosystems.
Lamellibrachia luymesi is a species of tube worms in the family Siboglinidae. It lives at deep-sea cold seeps where hydrocarbons are leaking out of the seafloor. It is entirely reliant on internal, sulfide-oxidizing bacterial symbionts for its nutrition. These are located in a centrally located "trophosome".
The evolution of nervous systems dates back to the first development of nervous systems in animals. Neurons developed as specialized electrical signaling cells in multicellular animals, adapting the mechanism of action potentials present in motile single-celled and colonial eukaryotes. Primitive systems, like those found in protists, use chemical signalling for movement and sensitivity; data suggests these were precursors to modern neural cell types and their synapses. When some animals started living a mobile lifestyle and eating larger food particles externally, they developed ciliated epithelia, contractile muscles and coordinating & sensitive neurons for it in their outer layer.
Nautilia profundicola is a Gram-negative chemolithoautotrophic bacterium found around hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean. It was first discovered in 1999 on the East Pacific Rise at depth of 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), on the surface of the polychaete worm Alvinella pompejana. Nautilia profundicola lives symbiotically on the dorsal hairs of A. pompejana but they may also form biofilms and live independently on the walls of hydrothermal vents. The ability of N. profundicola to survive in an anaerobic environment rich in sulfur, H2 and CO2 of varying temperature makes it a useful organism to study, as these are the conditions that are theorized to have prevailed around the time of the earliest life on earth.
The annelids, also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecologies – some in marine environments as distinct as tidal zones and hydrothermal vents, others in fresh water, and yet others in moist terrestrial environments.
Daikoku Seamount is a submarine volcano located in the Northern Mariana Islands, in the western Pacific Ocean. It is part of a chain of volcanoes and seamounts that includes the more known Ahyi Seamount and NW Rota-1 seamounts and is situated about 690 km (429 mi) north of the island of Saipan. Daikoku Seamount rises over 2,500 m (8,202 ft) meters from the seafloor, with its summit about 323 m (1,060 ft) below sea level. Since its discovery, the seamount has been studied by several expeditions, including expeditions made by NOAA, using various scientific tools, such as sonar mapping and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Daikoku Seamount is known for its active hydrothermal vent system, which hosts diverse communities of deep-sea organisms, including tube worms, crabs, and snails. The seamount is also one of the only volcanoes along with Nikkō Seamount to have had a partially molten sulfur lake, which is usually a feature seen on Io than on Earth.