Dear All,
While sorting some benthic samples from the Gulf of Alaska, I found a
small (about 1.0 cm long) terebellid polychaete. Attached to the anterior
abdominal setigers were two oval masses. The masses were turgid, nearly
smooth except some very faint constrictions that may have been
segmentation. They were both attached to the left-hand side (looking down
on the dorsal surface, buccal tentacles up) of the setigers by a very
narrow, short stalk. One (the larger of the two) was attached to the
abdominal setiger 1 or 2, while the second was on abdominal setiger 5 or
6. Superficially, these look very much like the externae of Rhizocephalan
barnacles (I know that's not what these are, just giving a mental picture). I
did not attempt to identify the Terebellid, I am not skilled enough with this
family to insure I wouldn't damage the "parasites" in the process.
Superficially it looks like the common Thelepus sp. that is found in these
same samples.
I was wondering if anyone had an idea about what these could be? I
thought maybe a copepod, but that's only because more often than not any
marine parasite I don't recognize turns out to be a copepod.
Thank you- Aaron.
Aaron & Laura Baldwin
609 SMC Blvd
Sitka, Alaska 99835
<jsapb at gci.net>
-- ANNELIDA LIST
Discuss = <annelida at net.bio.net> = talk to all members
Server = <biosci-server at net.bio.net> = un/subscribes
Archives = http://www.bio.net:80/hypermail/ANNELIDA/
Resources = http://biodiversity.uno.edu/~worms/annelid.html
--