January is a sad month, almost as sad as November, with both suffering from a lack of festive cheer thanks to that glory hog December. No wonder some people and animals take to drink as seen last week with the tipsy Bohemian Waxwing. This week we’re getting a little wet with what appears to be a swimming beard? Hope you guys enjoy…

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Issue #155 – Bearded Fireworm

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Annelida

Class – Polychaeta

Order – Amphinomida

Family – Amphinomidae

Genus – Hermocidae

Species – carunculata

Related Species - Bearded Fireworms are members of the Polychaete Worms a group that includes the formidable Bobbit Worm (1)

Range - Bearded Fireworms can be found on the sea floor in shallow tropical waters in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

Generic Pirate #02 and the Beard of Fire

Bearded Fireworms are medium sized segmented worms that grown on average to a length of 15cm, although specimens twice this size have been caught and reliably recorded. The most distinguished feature of this species is the row of orange gills surrounded by white bristle like structures that look like a long luxurious beard. The worms actual body is split into sixty to over a hundred segments, with each segment possessing a pair of parapodia that are used in locomotion.

Bearded Fireworms are obligate carnivores, and will willingly scavenge on carrion, as well as killing injured prey and ripping polyps off of hard corals. Because it is a slow swimmer, these fireworms rely on the venom contained in the rows of bristles running down their flanks. In any humans foolish enough to touch one of these worms, the venom leaves an intense burning sensation in the area contact was made, along with nausea and dizziness. In addition, the bristles are an irritant, and may detach into a potential attacker, and in humans need to be removed to help alleviate the pain from the envenomation (2).

Unlike the majority of worms, Bearded Fireworms have defined genders. Breeding occurs at night at the surface of the ocean, with the females glowing green to attract the attention of any males in the area. In response the males swim towards her, flashing green himself before constricting around her, often in the company of other males. Once surrounded the females releases a stream of unfertilised eggs into the water stream, which the males fertilise. The fertilised eggs and newly hatched larvae will generally float in the plankton until they mature and descend to the seabed to begin their adult lives.

Nature’s Most Wanted #9 - European Fan Worm

European Fan Worms (Sabella spallanzanii) are tube worms from the coastal waters of Europe which reach a foot in length and filter plankton out of the water using their large crown of feeding tentacles. While the adults are sedentary, the larvae drift in the plankton and have been carried in ballast water to areas as far flung as Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, with the young worms quickly colonising new sections of sea bed and other underwater structures.

While the Fan Worms are an important part of the European marine ecosystem, where they effectively filter bacteria that cause illness in fish out of the water, in their non-native ranges they can cause great economic and ecological damage. Because they are filter feeders the worms compete for food with native filter feeders, and with no predators their numbers can expand quickly with no effective controls to halt their spread. In addition, fan worms often grow on Sea Grass, and bend their leaves with the weight of their tubes, effectively cutting off the plant’s supply of sunlight.

While Fan Worms compete with mussels and clams for food in shellfish farms, the main economic effect that the species has is its ability to alter water current flow (4). Large numbers of Fan Worms can reduce the flow of incoming nutrients and effectively create areas of low oxygen, almost stagnant ‘dead zones’. At current the only way that this species can be contained is by manual removal of adult worms, although areas are often quickly recolonised due to the quick maturation rate of this species and large number of young produced per breeding cycle.

Bibliography

1 - www.arkive.org

2 - Mehr, S.F.M., Verdes, A., DeSalle, R., Sparks, J., Pieribone, V. and D. F. Gruber. 2015. Transcriptome sequencing and annotation of the polychaete Hermodice carunculata (Annelida, Amphinomidae)”, BMC Genomics, 16:445.

3 - http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=292

4 - http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/species.php?sc=1046

Picture References

1 - http://www.weheartdiving.com/wp-content/uploads/bearded-fireworm-hermodice-carunculata-featured-image.jpg

2 - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TaY4Vz0zfII/maxresdefault.jpg

3 - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ESPgD2erlhU/hqdefault.jpg

4 - http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0010/636751/Euro-fan-worm.jpg

Worms, you have to love them, or you know be repulsed by them. Next week we have a buoyant issue, but until then make sure to critic, comment and suggest future issues as well as making sure you check past issues in Impurest’s Bestiary.

Many Thanks

Impurest Cheese

Want more IGTA? For another squirmy issue which can light up an ocean, click here to see the Groovy Green Bomber Worm. Or for a dose of vintage nightmare fuel, click here to meet the Brutal Bobbit Worm.