Deep Sea News

Ventral view of Swima species 1 with three attached and two autotomized b-bombs. Image © 2004 Karen J. Osborn.

Or perhaps more appropriately have the bomb.  Osborn et al. report in Science seven previously unknown species (0.7 to 3.6 inches) of annelid worms hailing from the deep pelagic (>1800m).  All the new species form a distinctive group within the Cirratuliformia, a recently proposed higher taxonomic group that encompases seven other groups currently recognized as families.  The species here fall in the currently described Acrocirridae but appear to be fairly genetically distinct from other known cirratuliforms.

One of the really cool findings, in addition to the distinctive morphological adaptations of the group described below, is this would represent a third, and independent, invasion of the typically benthic, i.e. living in the mood ooze of the seefloor, cirratuliforms into the nice, clean pelagic realm.

It is not just taxonomy and genes that make this group special.  Scratch that.  It is all taxonomy and genes that make this group special!  Five of these species have pairs of oval-shaped organs evolved from branchaie, i.e. gills, that serve as green “bioluminescent bombs”.  These bombs can be dropped like depth charges, releasing brilliant flashes, and speculated to ward off encroaching predators. The presence of smaller B-Bombs are thought to imply that these species can regenerate them as needed.

Ventral view of Swima species 1 with three attached and two autotomized B-bombs. Image © 2004 Karen J. Osborn.

Note we here at DSN also are deeply offended by the statement of Oregon Environmental News that “Worms usually aren’t that flamboyant.”.  Apparently someone has never taken a real look at the polychaetes (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) .  Video of these species are below the fold.

Six previously unknown swimming species of acrocirrid polycheate worms recently discovered in the deep Pacific Ocean. Hypothetical relationships are represented by the twisted evolutionary path leading to each species in this unrooted tree. A typical benthic acrocirrid is included for comparison to the swimming species. Image © 2009 Karen J. Osborn.

Osborn, K., Haddock, S., Pleijel, F., Madin, L., & Rouse, G. (2009). Deep-Sea, Swimming Worms with Luminescent “Bombs” Science, 325 (5943), 964-964 DOI: 10.1126/science.1172488

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The latest viral video is from the sewer under Cameron Village in Raleigh, NC.  The mysterious creatures found are nothing short of disgusting and spectacular.  This video has made its way to Video Sift and various cryptozoology sites.  Speculations on the nature of this creature run from bryozoans, cnidarians, slime molds, and some mysterious alien creature here to suck out our brains. Well let me say first that it is none of the above. I can think of no freshwater Cnidarian that looks anything like this.  It lacks the characteristic delineations that would indicate individual zooids in the colony and frankly the retracting of finger-like tentacles doesn’t seem like a bryozan characteristic (see the pictures at this site). In fact, I have poked a lot of invertebrates as lab instructor for invertebrate zoology and as a graduate student just for shits and giggles and none of the mentioned candidates would respond like this. So back to square one…

You shouldn’t trust me however…you should trust an expert in one of the aforementioned groups.  Enter stage right Dr. Timothy S. Wood who is an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association.  I sent along the video and this was his reponse…

Thanks for the video – I had not see it before. No, these are not bryozoans!  They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (Naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting. Interesting video.

More video of Tubifex

In no certain order…

10.  Those barnacles just ain’t feeding!  This is red hot barnacle copulation! Turn the lights down low, everything’s goin’ to be just right…

9. Humboldt Squid are vicious, blood thirsty demons ready to rip the flesh off any living creature.  Of course I tend toward exaggeration

8. Beautiful? Definitely! Slow? Stunningly!  Hungry? Absolutely! Equipped with deadly precision and the gastropod equivalent of a harpoon, species of the genus Conus are here to terrorize all the fish in your neighborhood.

7. Sharks? Whatever… those serious about the ocean know octopods are top predators

6. Stunning, a rare thing of beauty but vicious and deadly. Reminds of a girl I dated once.

5. They’re sponges and they’re horny!

4. They’re like little puppies.

3. No top ten craziest web videos of marine invertebrates would be complete with the GIANT ISOPOD.

2. Polychaetes are one of the most diverse and bewildering marine invertebrate groups. To love the ocean is to love the worms. This is a 10cm Nereis. Make sure you watch to 0:55 for the amazing everting proboscis with its horny hooks.

1. Sure there are far more freshwater rotifers than marine but no reason to leave them off the list.

Bonus: Not invertebrate but sometimes you just gotta dance

SCAMIT (Southern California of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists) has released the best calender of the year – a marine invertebrate calendar! Long time DSN reader Leslie Harris works at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and put together this calendar to help support, “a non-profit dedicated to educating & supporting local taxonomists.” Not only do they support working and professionally trained taxonomists, but its members consist of amateur enthusiasts, divers and other interested individuals. She was kind enough to send along an image to share with our readers. I just made a purchase at their cafepress store, it will look awesome in my office next to . . .

Twelve months of inverts!

The following marine invertebrate clock with artwork by Emily Damstra! It is sitting on the bookshelf above my desk nestled with my zoology books and a box of anemone and zoanthid specimens. The artwork is stunning and she does wonderful natural history illustrations. The clock even includes Entoprocts! Check out her other Marine Fish and Invertebrate artwork.

Marine invert clock by Emily Damstra

Long time readers will be all too aware of my absolute fascination with the bone-devouring zombie worms from the ocean’s depths. Since their discovery merely 6 years ago, researchers have uncovered many discoveries about these strange creatures. To review: Fun Facts on the genus Osedax (meaning “bone-devourer”)! Gather round the whole family!

• Not only do they dine on whale bones, they apparently can dine on cow bones too. Make sure you lock up the cattle in the barn at night!
• There are more than one species and they appear in multiple parts of the world! I wouldn’t sit there looking so smug and contect landlocked countries. It is only a matter of time before crawl out the ocean for a taste of human flesh! Yes I’m talking to you Bolivia and Switzerland.
• They lead disgusting lives that would have made Jerry Falwell weep in despair. It is a female dominated society with males relegated to pathetic little sacks of sperm. The females have evolutionarily beaten down the men in the Osedax world to worthless little semi-parasitic dwarves. Alas this appears to be the condition in all Osedax species discovered thus far.
• Not only are the men made into mice, but females exploit them by keeping them confined to harems! Talk about keeping the man down! Up to 114 males have been found in a single female oviduct.

Really, can you take much more of them? Maybe the Japanese and Norwegians are on to something. Kill the whales, destroy the zombie worms, restore decency to the world. Cut them off from the top? Another approach is to cut them off from the bottom, by depleting (freeing?) the females harem of enslaved males. In order to understand how we might fight these most unholy of sea creatures, Vrijenhoek and colleagues sought to understand where the supply of males came from.

Details below the fold!

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#2 Genus Osedax (Phylum: Annelida, Class: Polychaeta, Order: Sabellida, Family: Siboglinidae)

BONEZ1!! WE WANTZ UR BONEZ!! Perhaps the scariest deep sea creature, Osedax (latin for “bone devourer”) is a genus of tubeworm that lives on the carcasses of whales that have fallen to the seafloor. It lives off of mining the lipids in the whale’s bones using “root”-like structures. THEY WILL EAT UR BONEZ!!1! I would not want to fall to the bottom and meet these little guys. Of course it takes a while before the worms settle in. First the sharks and hagfish have to strip away all the flesh (see video below the fold to find out what happens to all those drunken sailors, note fuzzy stuff near end).

Photo montage of whale fall courtesy of MBARI. Red fuzzies are the plumes of Osedax.Not only do they eat whale bones, but they have a lifestyle that would strike fear in the hearts of any good christian family. You see, males are just parasitic little wormy sacks of sperm. They live in the oviduct of the female and live only to serve. And it is by no means a monogamous lifestyle. Each female might have up to 114 males prancing about inside of her. God knows what so many males do in one female. Surely nothing we would want our precious children to see.

Osedax from Monterey Canyon. Left picture shows the green roots and white ovary that is buried in the whale bone, courtesy of Greg Rouse. Right picture courtesy of MBARI.

To recap: Bone-eating zombie worms devouring dead whales (and cows!) with useless parasitic males enslaved in harems. Disgusting.

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These chicas are freaky. But if you lived on a whale vertebrae and eat through bone, perhaps you’d be a little on the kinky side too, right? Osedax, the “bone-devouring” worm is weird. Now, I know long time Deep Sea News readers will be a little used to us talking about odd critters in the ocean, maybe you’ve come to expect it and are no longer shocked. We have even talked quite a bit about our good friend Osedax. But this is one critter that would infuse the pope with fear and disgust.

FIgure 3a from Rouse et al. 2008, whale vertebrae covered in Osedax roseus (arrows).

Rouse et al. 2008 describe yet another new species of bone-devouring zombie worm, Osedax roseus. In fact this is the fifth new species since these strange types of worms were first described in 2004 and was lucky enough to grace the cover of Playworm Biological Bulletin. And rightfully so! This paper was an excellent example of integrative biology. Not only was it a species description, but act now and the authors will throw in a reproductive ecology study for no additional charge! And whats that Craig? You are not going to believe this folks. Not only will you get the species description and reproductive ecology, but we are going to sweeten the pot a little and throw in a little molecular evolution as well! Hot damn! You are not going to find a better “whale” of a deal anywhere else! Oh wait! I have Peter on the phone right now. He’s saying that the authors just opened up a new special offer only for the readers of Deep Sea News. The first 30 commenters will also receive their own plush dwarf male!

Continued under the fold.

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