Brooding deep-water onuphid polychaetes (Annelida) from the Bay of Biscay

Hannelore Paxton, Andrés Arias*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We report on three species of deep-water onuphid polychaetes (Nothria maremontana, Paradiopatra hispanica and Rhamphobrachium brevibrachiatum) from the Bay of Biscay from depths of 468 to 1186 m. The three species contained eggs and/or juveniles inside the parental tubes and R. brevibrachiatum had a cocoon-like capsule attached on the outside of its tube containing fibres and sperm. We present brief taxonomic descriptions of the three species, including some observations on ontogenetic chaetal changes in N. maremontana. The brooded eggs ranged from 300 to 340 μm in diameter in N. maremontana, while R. brevibrachiatum eggs ranged from 390 to 450 μm; juveniles consisted of 6 chaetigers for N. maremontana and 6-45 chaetigers for P. hispanica. We describe and illustrate the eggs, juveniles and sperm capsule. Although the origin of the sperm capsule is questionable, we reject the possibility of an unrelated passenger and speculate that the structures contained inside the capsule are long, thin spermatophores of a type not previously known for onuphids.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)892-905
    Number of pages14
    JournalMarine Biology Research
    Volume10
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Keywords

    • Avilés Canyon
    • benthic fauna
    • Cantabrian Sea
    • direct development
    • Spain
    • sperm

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