Cephalopodcast

Parchment tube from Chaetopterus mixed with thousands of dead urchins, © Jason Robertshaw

What the Shell Is That? is my semi-irregular series on beachcombing and tidal life. Living on the west coast of Florida, it is mostly about shells, but can also be about other flotsam, fauna and even flora.

Parchment Tube Worms (Chaetopterus sp.)

Date: 12 March 2008
Location: Siesta Key, Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.
All along the wrack line.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta
Order: Spionida
Family: Chaetopteridae

Parchment Tube Worm (Chaetopterus sp.)

Report:
We had some storms roll through recently that managed to dislodge quite a number of benthic invertebrates. All kinds of critters were washed up on the beach, some in the thousands. There were worms, sea urchins, sea shells and seaweeds of all different kinds and colors. It was good pickings for the beachcombers but even better pickings for the shore birds.

One of the castoffs that piled up in the wrack line were the casings from parchment tube worm (Chaetopterus veriopedatus). Normally these worms burrow into the sand with either end of the tube poking out (see illustration here). The worm itself has several highly modified, bell-like paddles that they beat inside the tube to maintain water circulation. One of the neatest aquarium exhibits I’ve seen was a live Chaetopterus placed inside some clear vinyl tubing. It was thereby possible to watch the rhythmic beating of its paddles. Here’s a photo of a similar set-up.

Another critter that my wife found was one that has long been on my life-list but is so obscure I did not recognize it at the time (hence the poor picture). It was a Polyonyx sp., or a commensal porcelain crab that lives almost exclusively in the tubes of parchment worms. It is rare to find them anywhere else and this one presumably was dislodged from one of the many casings on the beach. You might note how it’s claw seems oddly bent. It wasn’t broken but appeared to be shaped that way.

There were also casings from another type of worm called the decorator or plumed worm (family Onuphidae). You may have heard about the recent debunking of bug eyespots as being mimicry. Well there is a similar amazing story underwater with these creatures. Recent research from Sarah K. Berke and Sarah A. Woodin (University of South Carolina) suggests that the Onuphid’s tube decoration may not be for camouflage after all.

References

• Ruppert, Edward and Richard Fox. Seashore Animals of the Southeast. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. 203.
• Williams, Winston. Florida’s Fabulous Seashells. City: World Publications (Tampa, FL), 1988. pp. 39
• Witherington, E., Blair and Dawn Witherington. Florida’s Living Beaches. City: Pineapple Press (FL), 2007. pp. 125.

Additional Links

• Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory: Chaetopterus variopedatus (Tube Worm). Includes nice pics of the worm and Polyonyx.
• Polychaet Diverstiy and Feeding: Chaetopterus
• Science Musings: Red fish, blue fish…
• Google Docs: A Study of the Life History and Habits of Chaetopterus Variopedatus, By Howard Edward Enders (Published 1906)
• Biological Bulletin Online: Tube Decoration May Not Be Cryptic for Diopatra cuprea (Polychaeta: Onuphidae) Berke and Woodin Biol Bull.2008; 214: 50-56
• National Geographic: Hawai’i’s Unearthly Worms
• ScienceDaily: Zoologists Challenge Longstanding Theory That ‘Eyespots’ Mimic The Eyes Of Predators’ Enemies

I have not gone out to the beach as much as I had hoped when I first started What the Shell. But not too far from the horse conch, we found this little fellow.

Stone Crab (Menippe sp.)

The one pictured below is probably a juvenile M. mercenaria, the Florida Stone Crab. That’s based on the range; I haven’t found anything definitive yet.

2 September 2007
New Pass, Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.
Found crawling on a dead quahog shell.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Brachyura
Superfamily: Xanthoidea
Family: Menippidae
Stone Crab (Menippe sp.)

Gortoning Myself

I am probably Gortoning myself with this one, but stone crab season begins today in Florida.

Only legal-sized claws (2 ¾ inches) are harvested in the stone crab fishery; crabs are returned to the water alive to generate new claws. Approximately 13 percent of commercially harvested claws are regenerated. The fishing season is open October 15 through May 15 each year, but the harvest of egg-bearing female crabs is prohibited at all times.

Most of the sources on stone crabs note that this is a “sustainable fishery,” owing to the notion that the crabs will regrow their claws. The rate of regrowth varies, taking anywhere from one to three molts before the new claw approaches the same size as the one removed. The molting rate depends on the initial size, sex and environmental conditions of the animal, among other things.

Duress of the Dungeness*

You can file this under duh, but Mark recently noted some new research that indicates crabs with claws removed have increased stress levels which could affect survival rate. As picked up by ScienceDaily:

Professor Bob Elwood, from the School of Biological Sciences studied crabs’ reaction to declawing. Crabs felt increased stress and had a lower survival rate after the removal of one claw.

Professor Elwood said: “We found a strong stress response within ten minutes of taking off one claw and this stress remained after 24 hours. The stress response was greater if the crab was declawed rather than being induced to cast off a claw. So, the stress is not due specifically to claw loss but to the manner of the claw loss.

I don’t imagine most folks will pay much mind to this news. But personally, I’ve cut back tremendously on the amount of meat I consume, mostly for ethical and environmental reasons. And this research doesn’t incline me make an exception for crustaceans, no matter how deliciously sustainable they may be.

Sources

• Blogfish: Removing claws is harmful to crabs
• ScienceDaily: Declawing Crabs May Lead To Their Death, which is a rehash of the original press release from Queen’s University, Belfast.
• NOAA FishWatch fact sheet: Gulf and Florida Stone Crabs (Menippe adina and Menippe mercenaria)
• The 2006 Stock Assessment Update for the Stone Crab, Menippe spp., Fishery in Florida
• A Proposed Evolutionary History of Stone Crabs
• Observations of the Stone Crab Commercial Fishery. From the 2006 season, with a couple of nice vignettes by Florida Wildlife Commission field crew members.
• Creative Loafing, Sarasota: ‘Tis the Season, Sandy claws are coming to town. Brian works in an jab at vegetarians in both the print and podcast versions.

*Forgive me the poetic license, I know they are different species. This also concludes my Blog Action Day report.