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sealord > Guernsey marine worms > scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2842 smg
sealord > Guernsey marine worms > scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2867 smg
sealord > This beautiful scaleworm, Alentia gelatinosa, turned up in one of Clive Brown's crab pots in about 50 fathoms of water off the south coast of Guernsey. The same species is found also on the Guernsey shore under boulders and cobbles and in tide pools. It swims quickly in a slinky manner undulating its body from side to side. It is the largest scaleworm found on the Guernsey shore reaching a length of 6 to 7 cm. It is not abundant but it is seen regularly. The scales or elytra overlap and cover the dorsal surface of the body. They are easily shed if the animal is handled. The worm has a soft gelatinous appearance. It can be brown or grey. It does not appear in the Collins Pocket Guide Sea Shore of Britain & Northern Europe by Peter Hayward, Tony Nelson-Smith and Chris Shields. I identified this species from a French sea shore guide. Clive Brown gave this scaleworm for me to photograph on 16 April, 2003. File No. 160403 12-657 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
sealord > This red errant polychaete was about 7 or 8 cm long. I found it in Belle Greve Bay on Guernsey's east coast on April 17, 2007. It was identified as Lysidice ninetta in the family eunicidae by Dr. Mary E. Petersen of the Darling Marine Center in Maine, USA; Dr. Daniela Iraci Sareri, University of Catania, Italy; Dr. Daniel Martin, Director, Centre d'Estudis Avancats de Blanes (CSIC), Spain; Guillermo Ruiz Cancino, Mexico; Dr. Salma Shalla based in the Isle of Man, UK; and Joana Zanol based in Washington, D.C., USA. I contacted them through the annelid email list - http://www.annelida.net/ For more information on this species please read the caption of the previous image. File No. 170407 27-895 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
sealord > This polychaete was discovered in Belle Greve Bay on Guernsey's east coast during a low spring tide on April 17, 2007. In April 2007 I contacted polychaete specialists on the annelid email list - http://www.annelida.net/ to identify this species for me. Dr. Mary E. Petersen of the Darling Marine Center in Maine; Dr. Daniela Iraci Sareri in Italy; Dr. Daniel Martin, Director, Centre d'Estudis Avancats de Blanes (CSIC) in Spain; Guillermo Ruiz Cancino in Mexico; Dr. Salma Shalla based in the Isle of Man; and Joana Zanol in Washington, D.C. wrote to tell me it was the eunicid, Lysidice ninetta. Dr. Mary Petersen wrote "Lysidice ninetta appears to be the only UK eunicid with three antennae, no dorsal cirri on the apodous segment and the color pattern shown. Both the reddish anterior segments with fine white spots and the pale (white?) ring on chaetiger 2 should be diagnostic." Dr. Daniela Iraci Sareri wrote "Of Lysidice collaris Grube, 1870; Lysidice margaritacea Claparede, 1868; and Lysidice ninetta Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1833, L. collaris and L. margaritacea are warm-water species mainly recorded in Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea (lessepsian migrants) with the second less frequent than the other. Moreover L. ninetta is easy distinguishable from L. collaris because characterized by a white bar on the fourth setiger." PhD candidate Joana Zanol wrote "The question about how many species of Lysidice are there in the English Channel is a tricky one. Around 30 species of Lysidice have been described for the whole world, but most have been synonymized so only the names collaris and ninetta are being used around the world. Most specimens in the English Channel are probably identified as Lysidice ninetta . Lysidice ninetta is a pretty close identification for your specimen and English Channel specimens in general because the type specimens were from the Chausey Islands. Lysidice collaris type specimens were from the Red Sea." Guillermo Ruiz Cancino wrote that "Lysidice ninneta Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1833, is cosmopolitan, nevertheless recent studies have demonstrated that it can be a complex of species and not to be a single species." Dr. Daniel Martin based in Spain wrote "your worm seems clearly to be Lysidice ninneta. This was the most currently cited species in Mediterranean waters, where often two colour patterns were distinguished. I was able to identify two different species. The reddish one with a whitish collar effectively corresponded to L. ninetta, but the pale brownish one was L. collaris Grube, 1870. Both were equally frequent and shared simultaneously the same habitats (in my case, calcareous algae aggregates)." File No. 170407 25-895 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
sealord > Wave and tidal action deposit the finest material in and around Salerie harbour at the southern corner of Belle Greve Bay. Here lugworms cover the surface with their casts. File No. BG 180407 8067 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
sealord > This photograph of a small stone from Belle Greve Bay, Guernsey covered in crustose coralline algae shows various holes. The larger dark holes are made by the polychaete worm Polydora sp., which is in the family spionidae. These burrowing or tube-forming worms have long filaments or palps attached to the head, which extend out of the holes they make. A pair of palps can be seen in the upper right-hand corner of the image. They appear as thin white lines. The smaller holes ringed with white are reproductive structures of the red algae. File No. BG 15-887 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
sealord > The polychaete worm Nereis fucata forms an unusual relationship with the hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus. The worm seeks out a hermit crab inhabiting an empty whelk shell by sensing when the hermit crab walks over the substrate. The worm will quickly come out of the substrate and penetrate the interior of the whelk shell. Sometimes the hermit crab will catch the worm before it can accomplish this. If the worm is successful in entering the whelk shell it will build itself a cocoon near the apex of the shell. When the hermit crab feeds the worm emerges from the shell to try and steal the hermit crab's food. The hermit crab often uses one of its right legs to push the worm back in the shell but eventually the worm will reach the hermit crab's mouth and steal the food. File No. 14-885 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
sealord > The polychaete worm Nereis fucata forms an unusual relationship with the hermit crab, Pagurus bernhardus. The worm seeks out a hermit crab inhabiting an empty whelk shell by sensing when the hermit crab walks over the substrate. The worm will quickly come out of the substrate and penetrate the interior of the whelk shell. Sometimes the hermit crab will catch the worm before it can accomplish this. If the worm is successful in entering the whelk shell it will build itself a cocoon near the apex of the shell. When the hermit crab feeds the worm emerges from the shell to try and steal the hermit crab's food. The hermit crab often uses one of its right legs to push the worm back in the shell but eventually the worm will reach the hermit crab's mouth and steal the food. File No. 3-885 ©RLLord fishinfo@guernsey.net
scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2842 smg
Guernsey marine worms > scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2842 smg
scaleworm from rope CB 040208 2842 smg
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