Spaghetti worm

[Geoff Read]

Franz Alfred <franz at LIST.UFL.EDU> wrote:
> Can any kind soul help me to identify the "spaghetti worm" found in
> the hydrothermal vent zone? It is described as "resembling
> handfuls of white spaghetti draped over rocks."
>
> I think it is Saxipendium coronatum, (Hemichordata,
> Enteropneusta) but I do not have anything to confirm.

Woodwick, K., & T. Sensenbaugh. 1985. Saxipendium coronatum , new
genus, new species (Hemichordata: Enteropneusta): The unusual spaghetti
worms of the Galapagos Rift hydrothermal vents. - Proceedings of the
Biological Society of Washington 98(2):351-365.

Abstract: Saxipendium coronatum , new genus, new species, is described
from a rocky habitat at the edge of a geothermal vent of the Galapagos Rift.
The spaghetti worms represent a new family, Saxipendiidae, in class
Enteropneusta, phylum Hemichordata. Important differentiating
characteristics at the familial level which are found in the spaghetti worms
include weakly developed muscles of the proboscis, coronate proboscis
skeleton, long recurved skeletal crura, simple digestive tract and antra
associated with testis. Structures lacking in spaghetti worms but present in
other enteropneusts include vermiform process, cauliflower organ,
synapticulae,  pygochord, hepatic caeca, and large yolky eggs.



--
  Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.cri.nz>