Adaptation to the shallow sea floor environment of a species of marine worms, Oligobrachia mashikoi, generally inhabiting deep-sea water.

ABSTRACT: Beard worms from the family Siboglinidae, are peculiar animals and are known for their symbiotic relationships with sulfur bacteria. Most Siboglinids inhabit the deep-sea floor, thus making difficult to make any observations in situ. One species, Oligobrachia mashikoi, occurs in the shallow depths (24.5 m) of the Sea of Japan. Taking advantage of its shallow-water habitat, the first ecological survey of O. mashikoi was performed over a course of 7 years, which revealed that its tentacle-expanding behavior was dependent on the temperature and illuminance of the sea water. Furthermore, there were significantly more O. mashikoi with expanding tentacles during the nighttime than during the daytime, and the prevention of light eliminated these differences in the number of expending tentacles. T

SUBMITTER: Ogiso S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10113264 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature