Two-year survey of Alitta succinea (Annelida: Nereididae) in fouling communities with notes on morphology and reproduction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/Keywords:
Epitoky, Morphometrics, Metamorphosis, pileworm, Population DynamicsAbstract
Alitta succinea (Leuckart, 1847) is an errant segmented worm from the Nereididae family (Annelida) and is
broadly distributed around the greater Atlantic basin. A. succinea is a resilient mobile omnivore that plays an
important role in connecting lower and upper levels of the food web. Like many other nereidids, A. succinea
metamorphoses into reproductive swimming forms, called epitokes, before entering the water column to spawn.
In Galveston, Texas the species A. succinea is commonly found in fouling communities attached to artificial
structures in marinas. This study presents a two-year survey of a population found in the Texas A&M University
at Galveston Boat Basin. Over the two-year period, we collected over 2,000 A.succinea individuals for a gross
comparison of population dynamics and morphometrics. During the summer, we found high numbers of small
individuals, indicating a primary recruitment period. This was further corroborated by the high number of epitokes
in the summer compared to the winter and spring. During the summer and fall, the observed epitokes were
significantly smaller than those found in the winter and spring, which supports previous research that shows
a positive relationship between temperature and developmental rates. The continual presence of epitokes
indicates the existence of a recruitment process that occurs continuously throughout the year. In terms of
morphometrics, atokes and epitokes, both females and males, had their own unique profiles. As we expected,
epitokes have larger eyes and wider posterior segments compared to atokes. Interestingly, we found females to
be significantly larger than males, no matter the season. This study presents
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