Dispersal of phytoplanktotrophic shipworm larvae (Bivalvia: Teredinidae) over long distances by ocean currents
Shipworms or Teredinidae may be dispersed either as adults in floating wooden objects or as pelagic larvae drifting near the sea surface. Five shipworm species, i.e., half of those having an amphi-Atlantic geographical distribution, are known also to have pelagic phytoplanktotrophic larvae which can...
| Published in: | Marine Biology |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer
1971
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/34226/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/34226/1/shipworm.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348015 |
| Summary: | Shipworms or Teredinidae may be dispersed either as adults in floating wooden objects or as pelagic larvae drifting near the sea surface. Five shipworm species, i.e., half of those having an amphi-Atlantic geographical distribution, are known also to have pelagic phytoplanktotrophic larvae which can be carried by ocean currents. From a series of 742 plankton samples taken from throughout the temperate and tropical North Atlantic Ocean, it can be shown that shipworm larvae are not uncommon in the open sea. Teredinid veligers were found in 19% of all samples taken. One species of larvae, identical in all details to that described by Rancurel (1965), is particularly prevalent and is tentatively identified as Teredora malleolus (Turton). A definitive identification will be possible only after the pelagic larvae of the other Atlantic species are known. The larvae of Teredora malleolus are found throughout the North Atlantic Gyre and the adjacent temperate and tropical seas, and from scattered records in the South Equatorial Current. Larvae of other unidentified Teredinidae species were also found. The distance that larvae may be transported depends upon the length of pelagic larval development and the velocity of the currents. From the known current velocities it can be shown that, even in a few weeks, larvae may be dispersed many hundreds of kilometers. The geographical distribution of shipworm larvae suggests that they are carried along the coasts of continents and even across ocean basins, and that this dispersal must be an important factor in the geographical distribution of the adult forms and in the maintenance of genetic continuity between populations otherwise isolated from one another. |
|---|