Colorful tube worm

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Colorful tube worm
Serpula vermicularis 2.jpg

Colorful tube worm ( Serpula vermicularis )

Systematics
Trunk : Annelids (Annelida)
Class : Polychaete (Polychaeta)
Order : Serpulida
Family : Serpulidae
Genre : Serpula
Type : Colorful tube worm
Scientific name
Serpula vermicularis
Linnaeus , 1767

The Colorful Kalkröhrenwurm or Small Kalkröhrenwurm ( Serpula vermicularis ) is a marine annelid from the family of Serpulidae within the class of polychaete (Polychaeta) in seas is distributed worldwide.

features

Serpula vermicularis has a thick, conical, yellowish to reddish body up to about 7 cm long with about 300 segments , 7 of which form the thorax, and a red and white banded tentacle crown made up of 30 to 40 pairs of main tentacles, which at their base by a thick membrane are interconnected. There are two eyes on the peristomium .

The collar is incised dorsally and laterally and curved backwards ventrally. The thoracic membrane is wide. The first bristle-bearing segment has thin, finely toothed capillary-shaped bristles and stronger, slightly curved bristles with a finely-toothed tip, at the base of which there are 2 large teeth. The bristles of the notopodia on the other segments of the thorax are wide-winged and decorated with teeth at the tip. The hook-shaped bristles of the thorax have 5 to 6 strong teeth. The neuropodia of the abdomen have flat trumpet-shaped bristles, but long, thin capillary-shaped bristles are in their place on the last segments. The hook-shaped bristles of the abdomen have 4 to 8 teeth.

The tentacles (radioles) are used to capture phytoplankton and detritus and deliver them to the mouth, but at the same time act as gills for breathing. For this purpose, blood is pumped into and out of the tentacles in individual, blind-ended tentacle vessels with alternating flow directions. From here the blood flows through the abdominal vessel to the end of the body and from there through the intestinal sinus again forward. Chlorocruorin dissolved in the plasma serves as the blood pigment .

Residential tube

Calculus tubes of Serpula vermicularis

The approximately 5 to 7 cm long and 4 mm wide, pink to pale red, rarely white living tube of Serpula vermicularis has 5 longitudinal ribs with blunt teeth or sharp spines, but can also have transverse growth strips and is quite smooth when upright or in aggregation occurs. It consists of calcium carbonate , namely calcite and aragonite . The calcium ions required for this are stored in two white bags on the ventral side of the peristomium . The tube is separated by the glandular ventral shields of the thoracic segments and formed by the collar directly behind the prostomium .

The living tube is closed with a red and white banded, funnel-shaped operculum with star-shaped grooves and 20 to 40 lateral teeth and a thornless pedunculus.

distribution

Serpula vermicularis is distributed worldwide, for example in the English Channel , in the entire North Sea , in the Skagerrak , Kattegat , the Great and Little Belt and the northern Öresund , but also in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean .

habitat

Serpula vermicularis lives on solid substrates, preferably rocks and mollusc shells in the intertidal zone and below it to a depth of about 100 m, such as in sea lagoons, bays and natural harbors. Also bryozoans and the tubes other polychaete be colonized and thus formed reefs, which in turn by Bohrschwämme ( Cliona celata can be destroyed). The animal also settles on large brown algae such as Fucus spp. but avoids Nereocystis spp. A possible reason for this is that the latter use carbon monoxide as a filling for their pneumocysts , to which the chlorocruorin, which serves as the blood pigment of the annelid worms, has a particularly strong affinity, which could lead to suffocation.

Reefs built in cold water by Serpula vermicularis over a period of many years provide habitat for numerous other organisms. In UK waters, these include numerous sessile animals such as sponges , hydrozoans , sea ​​squirts - including Pyura microcosmus -, bogfish , other multiborn animals such as Pomatoceros triqueter , sea ​​anemones such as Metridium senile and mussels such as Chlamys spp. , Modiolus modiolus and Aequipecten opercularis . Also, there are decapods such as Cancer pagurus , sea urchins as Echinus esculentus and Psammechinus miliaris , brittle stars as Ophiothrix fragilis , starfish like Asterias rubens and snails as Buccinum undatum , as well as red algae .

Development cycle

In UK waters, Serpula vermicularis mates between June and September, with the eggs being released into the open sea by the females and fertilized by the male's sperm. The larvae live freely swimming as zooplankton for about two months before they sink and metamorphose into small bristle worms . The growth of the living tubes is about 1 cm per month. The annelid becomes sexually mature at around 10 months and can reach an age of several years.

nutrition

Serpula vermicularis is a filter feeder that uses its tentacles to capture phytoplankton and detritus .

Predators

The predators of Serpula vermicularis include sea ​​urchins , starfish and the wrasse Crenilabrus melops and Ctenolabrus rupestris .

literature

Web links

Commons : Serpula vermicularis  - collection of images, videos and audio files