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The morphological diversity of Osedax worm borings (Annelida: Siboglinidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2014

Nicholas D. Higgs Open the ORCID record for Nicholas D. Higgs [Opens in a new window] ,
Adrian G. Glover ,
Thomas G. Dahlgren ,
Craig R. Smith ,
Yoshihiro Fujiwara ,
Florence Pradillon ,
Shannon B. Johnson ,
Robert C. Vrijenhoek  and
Crispin T.S. Little
Nicholas D. Higgs*
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Adrian G. Glover
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
Thomas G. Dahlgren
Affiliation:
Uni Research, Postboks 7810, N-5020 Bergen, Norway
Craig R. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, USA
Yoshihiro Fujiwara
Affiliation:
Marine Biodiversity Research Program, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan
Florence Pradillon
Affiliation:
Marine Biodiversity Research Program, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan Département des Ressources physiques et Ecosystèmes de fond de mer, IFREMER, Centre de Brest, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France
Shannon B. Johnson
Affiliation:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
Robert C. Vrijenhoek
Affiliation:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
Crispin T.S. Little
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N.D. Higgs, Current address: Marine Institute, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK email: nicholas.higgs@plymouth.ac.uk
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Abstract

Marine worms in the genus Osedax, have specialized ‘root’ tissues used to bore into the bones of decomposing vertebrate skeletons and obtain nutrition. We investigated the borings of nine Osedax species, using micro computed tomography to quantitatively describe the morphology of the borings and provide three-dimensional reconstructions of the space occupied by Osedax root tissues inside the bone. Each Osedax species displayed a consistent boring morphology in any given bone, but these differed between bones. In bones where multiple species coexisted there was limited evidence for spatial niche partitioning by Osedax root tissues inside the bones investigated here. The new morphological data may be applied to Osedax traces in fossil bones, showing that borings can be used to indicate minimum species richness in these bones.

Keywords

bioerosiondeep-seawhale-fallPolychaetataphonomytrace fossilcomputed tomography
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 7 , November 2014 , pp. 1429 - 1439
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014 

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