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 46m. It is particularly abundant on the underside of wharves in Puget Sound, Washington, and on wharves at Boston Harbor marina.
Sabellidae 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.
Puget Sound is a sound along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and two minor connections to the open Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca—Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel being the minor.
Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Named for George Washington, the first president of the United States, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, which was ceded by Britain in 1846 in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Olympia is the state capital; the state's largest city is Seattle. Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State, to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, which is often shortened to Washington.
Specimens of S. insignis are generally 10–20cm long, and 5–10mm in diameter, with tubes which are whitish and pliable. The tentacular crown is uniform orange, red, mauve, tan, brown, grey, or green in color. Among sabellids of the Pacific Northwest, S. insignis is unique in that all radioles are dichotomously branched at least once. Radioles of Eudistylia polymorpha are not branched, and only a few of the radioles of E. vancouveri are branched.
The Pacific Northwest (PNW), sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and (loosely) by the Cascade Mountain Range on the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Broader conceptions reach north into Southeast Alaska and Yukon, south into northern California, and east of the Continental Divide to include Western Montana and parts of Wyoming. Narrower conceptions may be limited to the coastal areas west of the Cascade and Coast mountains. The variety of definitions can be attributed to partially overlapping commonalities of the region's history, culture, geography, society, and other factors.
Life history
S. insignis is free-spawning, releasing gametes into the water column for fertilization.[1] If disturbed by touch, water movement, or shadow, the tentacular crown can be quickly withdrawn entirely within the tube, by retractor muscles. Ciliated radioles (feathery tentacles) collect planktonic particles, which are trapped in mucus and carried to the mouth.
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".
Physiology and biochemistry
S. insignis has been found to accumulate dissolved carbon exuded by an alga.[2] For feeding and respiration, S. insignis reportedly passes 70ml/h/g animal (fresh weight) of water through the tentacular crown by the cilia's movement.[3] The hooked setae of Schizobranchia insignis have been found to dig into the tube wall and serve as anchors, likely to secure the worm from being sucked out by a fish or pulled by wave action. Worms were found to withstand high pressures of 100-200 kPa (applied experimentally, from posterior).[4]
Ecosystem role
Along with other species of polychaete worms, S. insignis is host to kleptoparasitic suspension-feeding snails, like Trichotropis cancellata, that live on the worms and steal food.[5]
Footnotes
↑ Thomas, F., 1998. Transport and mixing of gametes in three free-spawning polychaete annelids, Phragmatopoma californica (Fewkes), Sabellaria cementarium (Moore), and Schizobranchia insignis (Bush). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 179, 1: 11-27.
↑ Fankboner, P.V. & L.D. Druehl, 1976. In situ accumulation of marine algal exudate by a polychaete worm (Schizobranchia insignis). Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 32, 11: 1391-1392.
↑ Phillips Dales, R., 1961. Observations on the respiration of the sabellid polycheate Schizobranchia insignis. Biological Bulletin. 121: 82-91.
↑ Merz, R.A. & S.A. Woodin, 2000. Hooked setae: tests of the anchor hypothesis. Invertebrate Biology. 119, 1: 67-82.
↑ Iyengar, E.V., 2004. Host-specific performance and host use in the kleptoparasitic marine snail Trichotropis cancellata. Oecologia. 138, 4: 628-639.
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