Teredo (bivalve)

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Teredo
Shipworm.jpg
This dried specimen of Teredo navalis was extracted from the wood and the calcareous tunnel that originally surrounded it and curled into a circle artificially. The two valves of the shell are the white structures at the anterior end; they are used to dig the tunnel in the wood.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Myida
Superfamily: Pholadoidea
Family: Teredinidae
Genus: Teredo
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Teredo navalis
Species

See text.

Synonyms [1]
  • AustroteredoHabe, 1952
  • Coeloteredo
  • PingoteredoBarsch, 1932
  • Teredo (Bitubuloteredo)Li, 1965
  • Teredo (Coeloteredo) Bartsch, 1923
  • Teredo (Zopoteredo)Bartsch, 1923
  • Zopoteredo

Teredo is a genus of highly modified saltwater clams which bore in wood and live within the tunnels they create. They are commonly known as "shipworms;" however, they are not worms, but marine bivalve molluscs (phylum Mollusca) in the taxonomic family Teredinidae . The type species is Teredo navalis . [1]

Contents

The tunneling habit of species in the genus inspired the name of the Teredo network tunneling protocol. The submarine HMS Teredo may also have been named after this genus, which works invisibly, below the surface, and can be very damaging to marine installations made of wood.

Diet

Like most marine based bivalves, teredo worms are primarily filter feeders and consume mostly seston, and not wood. [2] Wood supplements their primary diet and is consumed with the assistance of bacteria inside their [gill] cells. [3] However, wood is not a necessary part of their diet and they can live on the surface both of wooden and non-wooden structures. [4]

This photo demonstrates teredo worms do not require wood to survive and can damage non-wooden structures. This photo is of an epoxy-fiber glass vessel. Hole depths were less than 10mm. Remnants of a casing on the surface of the hull appear bottom right. Teredo Worm damage on a non-wooden sailing vessel.jpg
This photo demonstrates teredo worms do not require wood to survive and can damage non-wooden structures. This photo is of an epoxy-fiber glass vessel. Hole depths were less than 10mm. Remnants of a casing on the surface of the hull appear bottom right.

Species

Species within the genus Teredo include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipworm</span> Family of molluscs

The shipworms are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae: a group of saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into wood that is immersed in sea water, including such structures as wooden piers, docks and ships; they drill passages by means of a pair of very small shells (“valves”) borne at one end, with which they rasp their way through.

In computer networking, Teredo is a transition technology that gives full IPv6 connectivity for IPv6-capable hosts that are on the IPv4 Internet but have no native connection to an IPv6 network. Unlike similar protocols such as 6to4, it can perform its function even from behind network address translation (NAT) devices such as home routers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pholadidae</span> Family of bivalves

Pholadidae, known as piddocks or angelwings, are a family of bivalve molluscs similar to a clam.

<i>Teredo navalis</i> Species of bivalve

Teredo navalis, commonly called the naval shipworm or turu, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae. This species is the type species of the genus Teredo. Like other species in this family, this bivalve is called a shipworm because it resembles a worm in general appearance while at the anterior end it has a small shell with two valves, and it is adept at boring through wood.

<i>Venus</i> (bivalve) Genus of bivalves

Venus is a genus of small to large saltwater clams in the family Veneridae, which is sometimes known as the Venus clams and their relatives. These are marine bivalve molluscs.

<i>Pinna</i> (bivalve) Genus of bivalves

Pinna is a genus of bivalve molluscs belonging to the family Pinnidae.

<i>Lyrodus</i> Genus of bivalves

Lyrodus is a genus of ship-worms, marine bivalve molluscs of the family Teredinidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worm</span> Limbless invertebrate animal

Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grooved carpet shell</span> Species of bivalve

The grooved carpet shell, or Palourde clam, Ruditapes decussatus, or Venerupis decussatus, is a clam in the family Veneridae. It is distributed worldwide and is highly prized due to its ecological and economic interest. It has been proposed as a bioindicator.

Teredo portoricensis, known commonly as the Puerto Rico shipworm, is a species of wood-boring clam or shipworm, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Teredinidae.

<i>Periglypta</i> Genus of bivalves

Periglypta is a genus of bivalves in the subfamily Venerinae of the family Veneridae.

Kuphus is a genus of shipworms, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae. While there are four extinct species in the genus, the only extant species is Kuphus polythalamius. It is the longest bivalve mollusc in the world, where the only known permanent natural habitat is Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat in the Philippines.

<i>Acanthocardia</i> Genus of bivalves

Acanthocardia is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae. Like most other bivalves, these mollusks are suspension feeders. This genus is present from the Upper Oligocene to the Recent.

<i>Glycymeris</i> Genus of bivalves

Glycymeris, common name the bittersweet clams, is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Glycymerididae.

<i>Chama</i> (bivalve) Genus of bivalves

Chama is a genus of cemented saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Chamidae, the jewel boxes.

<i>Tucetona</i> Genus of bivalves

Tucetona is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Glycymerididae, the bittersweet clams. Unlike other genera in the family, Tucetona species have a ribbed shell.

<i>Solecurtus strigilatus</i> Species of bivalve

Solecurtus strigilatus, also known as the rosy razor clam, is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Solecurtidae. This mollusc is a suspension feeder and can burrow with great rapidity to escape predators. It is an unusual bivalve in that its shell valves are too small to contain all the soft tissue, and the animal is unable to retreat into its shell.

<i>Solecurtus</i> Genus of bivalves

Solecurtus is a genus of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve molluscs in the family Solecurtidae.

<i>Psiloteredo megotara</i> Species of clam

Psiloteredo megotara is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae, the shipworms.

Kuphus polythalamius is a species of shipworm, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Teredinidae.

References

  1. 1 2 Serge Gofas (2004). "Teredo Linnaeus, 1758". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species.
  2. ↑ Paalvast, Peter; van der Velde, Gerard (2013-07-01). "What is the main food source of the shipworm (Teredo navalis)? A stable isotope approach". Journal of Sea Research. 80: 58–60. Bibcode:2013JSR....80...58P. doi:10.1016/j.seares.2013.03.003. hdl: 2066/117330 . ISSN   1385-1101. S2CID   59488004.
  3. ↑ "How a Ship-Sinking Clam Conquered the Ocean". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  4. ↑ Taub, Matthew (2018-10-15). "A Century Ago, Wood-Eating Worms Devastated San Francisco Bay". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2020-11-05.


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