Annotated Bibliography Francis, W. R., Powers, M. L., & Haddock, S. H. (2016). Bioluminescence spectra from three deep-sea polychaete worms. Marine Biology, 163(12), 255. Annotation: The purpose of this experiment was to observe the light that the Tomopteris emits. They collected Tomopteris from Monterey Bay off the coast of California. They then stimulated the Tomopteris to produce light so that they could observe the light that it produced. The researchers took photos and measured the amount
or animals that dig up tunnels in the ocean floor. In particular, polychaetes and oligochaetes are species of worms which are the most common types of burrowers. Polychaetes and oligochaetes are very abundant and essential to the estuarine ecosystem. They serve as an important source of food for many species including birds in shallow areas and the tunnels they build are also used as shelter by other marine species. Polychaetes and oligochaetes also have various qualities, aside from being aesthetically
Bioerosion and Reef Ecology The breakdown of calcareous substrates among coral reefs, or bioerosion, is a facet of reef ecology too often forgotten. The process plays a much more important role than it is usually credited with. Bioeroding species, consisting of many different types of organisms that act on the environment in a seemingly endless variety of ways, interact with the ecosystem and with each other as part of the reef growth and degradation cycle. The degradation portion of this cycle
Bristle worms are a type of worm that is in the group of segmented worms. They are in the Phylum Annelida. The scientific name of the bristle worm is Polychaete. These worms “rule the sea”. They’re at least 10,000 different species of bristle worms that live everywhere in the sea. They can be in open ocean, coral reefs, or by deep hydrothermal vents. The bristle worm reproduces both sexually and asexually. They produce sexually by releasing an egg in the water and then fertilize it with sperm. They
reach maturity until about 11 years and 17 molts later.Males are fully mature. Females must molt 18 times to reach maturity, causing females to be larger than the male horseshoe crab. Many of the horseshoe crab larvae feed on small nemotodes and polychaetes, but the larger ones feed on an array of sea life including clams, worms, and mussels. The medical advancements that have been made including using horseshoe crab blood to make clots in human bodies that cannot clot blood themselves. A major anomolie
inundation of light (Finding the Origins of Color Vision). The difference in invertebrates and vertebrates eye anatomy seemed to have lacked a common connection that linked the two together within the history of vision, but with the discovery of the Polychaetes having both a ‘normal eye’ and photoreceptors, came the discovery “…that the different kinds of animal eyes share common
In the eye of the beholder: Do biological invasions impact ecosystems on a functional level? Biological invasions are generally considered an environmental threat, out competing native species and increasing community homogenisation. Importantly though, invasive species also alter ecosystems, yet little research has focused on whether invasions are a threat to their functioning or services. This encompasses two main debates: determining whether invasive species alter ecosystem functioning and, if
Cold water corals form reef structures in the cold deep sea are often defined as self-sustaining biogenic reef frameworks and can be found in any ocean around the world at different depths (Roberts, 2005; Davies and Guinotte, 2011). Reefs are patchy distributed on the sea floor and can develop forming impressive solid structures. These can fairly extend forming complex deep-sea habitats and shaping niches for many different marine species. These frameworks constitute thus a very specific ecosystem
as environmental generalists (Sekiguchi & Shuster, 2011). Limulus polyphemus are also regarded as dietary generalists; adult horseshoe crabs are omnivorous and feed on a wide variety of seabed invertebrates, including crustaceans, gastropods, polychaetes, bivalves (Botton et al. 2003; Botton, 2009), and even algae (Cartwright-Taylor, 2015). When the crabs encounter patches of their preferred prey, such as bivalves, they have been known to feed extensively, packing their guts with the shells (Botton
Introduction Aquaculture is a major industry world-wide but is becoming fast growing in Australia (Moffatt, B. 2008). Aquaculture is defined as the business of farming aquatic animals and plants, under varying degrees of controlled conditions, both in marine and freshwater environments (Daf, 2017). Aquaculture has the potential, through harvesting and farming species, to support the growing demand for seafood (Daf, 2017). Aquaculture produces fish for food, sport, bait and ornamental, as well as