Ophryotrocha scutellus, is a species of polychaete worm.[1] Live observation of this species in aquarium experiments indicate a bacterial diet. O. scutellus is named after the Latin scutella for “saucer”, due to its flattened disc-like head. Ophryotrocha scutellus has a dorsoventrally rounded and flattened prostomium, similar to O. platykephale, from which this species differs in jaw morphology, the form of its parapodia and the absence of branchiae.[1]
| Ophryotrocha scutellus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Annelida |
| Clade: | Pleistoannelida |
| Subclass: | Errantia |
| Order: | Eunicida |
| Family: | Dorvilleidae |
| Genus: | Ophryotrocha |
| Species: | O. scutellus
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| Binomial name | |
| Ophryotrocha scutellus Wiklund et al., 2009
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Description edit
Its body shape is elongated, with a uniform width for the majority of its length. It is transparent in colour, white eggs being visible in females. It lacks eyes; it possesses long, cirriform paired antennae, with palps being inserted lateroventrally on the prostomium. Its mandibles are rod-like, and lack serration. Its maxillae have seven pairs of free denticles. It counts with two peristomial segments without setae. It counts with a cirriform acicular lobe, its supraacicular chaetae being simple, while the subacicular chaetae are compound, and exhibit serrated blades. Its pygidium has a terminal anus, with two pygidial cirri that measure as long as its antennae and shows a short appendage ventrally.[1]
Distribution edit
It was first found in a minke whale carcass at a depth of 125 metres (410 ft) in the Koster area in Sweden, and from sediment at 104 metres (341 ft) beneath a fish farm in Hardangerfjord in Norway.[1]
References edit
Further reading edit
- Wiklund, Helena, et al. "Systematics and biodiversity of Ophryotrocha (Annelida, Dorvilleidae) with descriptions of six new species from deep-sea whale-fall and wood-fall habitats in the north-east Pacific." Systematics and Biodiversity 10.2 (2012): 243-259.
- Taboada, Sergi, et al. "Two new Antarctic Ophryotrocha (Annelida: Dorvilleidae) described from shallow-water whale bones." Polar biology 36.7 (2013): 1031-1045.
External links edit
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