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‘Hitchhiker’ polynoid polychaetes in cold deep waters and their potential influence on benthic soft bottom food webs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2010

Stefano Schiaparelli ,
Maria Chiara Alvaro ,
Jehns Bohn  and
Giancarlo Albertelli
Stefano Schiaparelli*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento per lo Studio del Territorio e delle sue Risorse (Dip.Te.Ris.), Università di Genova, C.so Europa 26, Genova I-16132, Italy
Maria Chiara Alvaro
Affiliation:
Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide (MNA), Università di Genova, Viale Benedetto XV n°5, Genova I-16132, Italy
Jehns Bohn
Affiliation:
Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Münchhausenstrasse 21, München D-81247, Germany
Giancarlo Albertelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento per lo Studio del Territorio e delle sue Risorse (Dip.Te.Ris.), Università di Genova, C.so Europa 26, Genova I-16132, Italy
*
stefano.schiaparelli@unige.it
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Abstract

We describe a new association for Antarctica, involving an holothuroid host, Bathyplotes bongraini Vaney, 1914, and a parasitic polynoid polychaete, Eunoe opalina McIntosh, 1885, which lives on the host body. Both species have never been recorded in the study area, the Ross Sea. The ecological definition of this partnership is difficult to assess, being a mix of phoresis, protective association, parasitism and, possibly, kleptocommensalism. Eunoe opalina emerges also as a true predator, ingesting several food items that do not belong to the diet of Bathyplotes. We compare this association with analogous examples known from shallow tropical environments as well as bathyal and abyssal depths. Given the conspicuous similarities between the deep water and high latitude examples of this kind of association, a possible common origin is hypothesized. Although the role of such a kind of parasitic relationships in Antarctic communities remains to be fully evaluated, it seems evident that, at high latitudes, where trophic levels are simplified and food webs do not have much redundancy, the impact of such a ‘multitasking’ predator-parasite as E. opalina might be of a greater magnitude than its shallow water tropical counterpart.

Keywords

AntarcticaHolothuroideaparasitismPolychaetaRoss Sea‘symbiotic’ association
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , August 2010 , pp. 399 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2010

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