Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T15:07:19.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sabellaria Colonies at Duckpool, North Cornwall, 1971–1972, With a Note for May 1973

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Douglas P. Wilson
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth

Extract

The exceptionally heavy settlement of larvae in the autumn of 1970 made it imperative to continue the observations of the previous ten years. This two-year extension has yielded much new knowledge about the growth of Sabellaria colonies at Duckpool, and about other aspects of their life. It revealed that the more densely packed the young were the faster their colony grew, provided conditions were favourable. In unfavourable circumstances close packing of young delayed growth. The rapid elongation of young tubes surrounding older tubes sometimes resulted in holes and fissures forming when the older worms failed to maintain all-round contact with surrounding young as the surface area of a colony increased. Such holes and fissures gave a false appearance of physical damage, and in colonies where they formed weakened the whole structure, becoming a factor in its ultimate destruction by wave action. Such fast-growing colonies have shorter lives than others growing more slowly and remaining more compact.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gruet, Y., 1971. Morphologie, croissance et faune associée des récifs de Sabellaria alveolata (Linné) de la Bernerie-en-Retz (Loire Atlantique). Tethys, 3, 321–80.Google Scholar
Gruet, Y., 1972. Aspects morphologiques et dynamiques de constructions de l'annélide polychète Sabellaria alveolata (Linné). Revue des traveaux. Institut des pêches maritimes, 36, 131–61.Google Scholar
Linke, O., 1951. Neue Beobachtungen über Sandkorallen-Riffe in der Nordsee. Natur und Volk, 81, 7184.Google Scholar
Meteorological Office, 1970–72. Monthly Weather Report of the Meteorological Office, 8789.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1968 a. Some aspects of the development of eggs and larvae of Sabellaria alveolata (L.). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 367–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1968 b. The settlement behaviour of the larvae of Sabellaria alveolata (L.). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 387435.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1970. Additional observations on larval growth and settlement of Sabellaria alveolata. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 50, 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1971. Sabellaria colonies at Duckpool, North Cornwall, 1961–1970. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 509–80.Google Scholar