Lusitanian Nemertean Species in Lough Hyne Marine Reserve: Paradrepanophorus Crassus and Punnettia Splendida Cynthia D
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Marine Biodiversity Records, page 1 of 6. # Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2013 doi:10.1017/S1755267213000328; Vol. 6; e57; 2013 Published online Lusitanian nemertean species in Lough Hyne Marine Reserve: Paradrepanophorus crassus and Punnettia splendida cynthia d. trowbridge1, colin little2, penny stirling2, graham pilling3 and brittney dlouhy-massengale1 1Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, PO Box 5389, Charleston, OR 97420, USA, 2Beggars Knoll, Long River Road, Newtown, Westbury, BA13 3ED, UK, 3Secretariat of the Pacific Community, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia The warm-water nemertean species Paradrepanophorus crassus, described from Mediterranean shores, was first recorded in Lough Hyne, County Cork, Ireland in 1931 by Renouf. This large nemertean that forms membranous tubes under low inter- tidal to shallow subtidal rocks has increased in frequency, particularly from 2009 to 2012 with peak values of 0.26 specimens per metre of shoreline. Eggs were noted within the membranous tube of one specimen collected in June 2012. Furthermore, based on digital photographs of specimens, the striped nemertean species Punnettia splendida was also noted in September 2011; this is a new species record for Lough Hyne. Keywords: Lough Hyne, Ireland, Lusitanian, Nemertea, tubes Submitted 8 October 2012; accepted 20 March 2013 INTRODUCTION body is flattened and tapered at both ends; there are white cephalic furrows with brown secondary slits on the head Lough Hyne Marine Reserve in County Cork, south-west (Stiasny-Wijnhoff, 1926; Gibson, 1982, 1995; Hayward & Ireland is at the interface between two biogeographical pro- Ryland, 1990, 1995). Our observations strongly support vinces. Thus, the lough has a tremendous biodiversity of cold- Renouf’s record of species coloration. temperate Atlantic marine species as well as warm-temperate We also report a photographic record of another large (but Lusitanian species. The presence of a few noteworthy striped) nemertean, Punnettia splendida (Keferstein, 1862). Mediterranean and Lusitanian species of fish, invertebrates This species is distributed along the French and British and seaweeds has been long known. Salient examples include coasts of the English Channel (Gibson, 1995). There is a trigger fish, several unusual species of nudibranchs and single, published record for Ireland, on the west coast numerous species and varieties of ‘southern’ seaweeds (Gibson, 1995, 2009; Guiry & Guiry, 2011). Whether the (Myers et al., 1991). record actually refers to Galway (as shown in Gibson, 2009) In this study, we report records of a large, orange nemer- is unclear as the list is for the country. No vouchered speci- tean worm: Paradrepanophorus crassus (Quatrefages, 1846). mens have been located and CEDaR records (Centre for Although not a new record for Lough Hyne, the unusual Environmental Data and Recording) at the Ulster Museum and largely overlooked nemertean has become much more (courtesy of Dr Julia Nunn) have no records of either nemer- frequent in recent years. The nemertean occurs under rocks tean species under their current names or various synonyms. from ‘just below the low-tide mark’ (Sheppard, 1935: 234) to 5 m (Gibson, 1982; Hayward & Ryland, 1990, 1995). The species also occurs in ‘a delicate membranous, glistening, MATERIALS AND METHODS parchment-like tube, which is secreted by the worm, fixed to the under side of large stones’ (Sheppard, 1935: 234). The Lough Hyne Marine Reserve (51830′N9817′W) is a semi- species attains lengths of 160 mm long and 8–12 mm wide enclosed, fully marine sea lough in County Cork, south-west (Sheppard, 1935; Gibson, 1982, 1994; Hayward & Ryland, Ireland. The lough is 1 km long and 0.5 km wide 1990, 1995). Renouf (1931) called the specimens ‘bright (Figure 1) and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a orange-coloured’ whereas Sheppard (1935: 235) contended shallow, narrow (25 m wide at high tide, 12 m at low tide) that the ‘worm can hardly be bright orange-coloured. channel called the Rapids. Our records of the large orange Actually the mid-dorsal region is a brown colour, which nemertean came from long-term monitoring of the intertidal shades into a dull orange towards the lateral margins. The and sub-tidal benthic communities at fixed sites around the ventral surface of the worm is pinkish white in colour.’ The lough—a continuation of earlier studies by Ebling et al. (1960) and Little et al. (1992). Some preliminary observations Corresponding author: were made in 1990 and 1991 (Little et al., 1992), but routine C.D. Trowbridge surveys were carried out annually from 1994 to 2011 in the Email: [email protected] last week of August and/or first two weeks of September. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 29 Sep 2021 at 20:04:37, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms1 . https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267213000328 2 cynthia d. trowbridge et al. Using fixed monitoring sites, we examined 10 m sections of In 2011, we selected eight additional 10 m sites (3 on the shore at low tide and recorded abundance of ecologically sig- south shore and 5 on the west shore) to supplement the moni- nificant species. The 10 stations (names and locations shown toring sites. The sites were selected based on availability of in Figure 1) were a subset of the 20 described by Ebling et al. low-shore rocks (25 to 50 cm diameter). These sites were (1960). We turned over all the shallow subtidal rocks at each used to evaluate whether the annual rock-turning influenced site and recorded the number of nemerteans. To ensure non- the abundance of nemerteans and to find specimens to be col- destructive sampling of the historical sites, we did not collect lected. In June 2012, we selected an additional 12 sites (each or disturb the nemerteans from these locations. 10 m long): five on the south shore and seven on west Fig. 1. (A) Map of south-western Ireland, indicating location of Lough Hyne; (B) map of Lough Hyne, indicating Renouf sectors and sites at which Paradrepanophorus crassus was recorded during this study and previous ones. Monitoring sites include orange circular symbols (nemertean records) and black ones (no records). Supplementary sites are indicated by red diamonds (when nemerteans present). Locations on the north shore of Castle Island are approximated as Sheppard (1935) did not report specific Renouf sectors. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 29 Sep 2021 at 20:04:37, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267213000328 unusual warm-water species in sw ireland 3 shore. A total of 379 rocks were turned in search of nemer- have recorded the species at 9 of the 10 monitoring sites teans over the 120 m of shoreline investigated in June 2012. (Figure 3). The nemertean was most consistent at Codium Bay (south-east corner of lough) near the top of the tidal rapids that connect to the open ocean. The nemertean species was also commonly found on the western shore RESULTS (Westwood South and Westwood North) and south-east systematics Labhra (Figure 1). The nemertean was never recorded from Class ENOPLA North Island, which had virtually no shallow sublittoral Order HOPLONEMERTEA rocks (the site is an outcrop, not part of the shoreline). Suborder POLYSTILIFERA Furthermore, in recent years, the habitat underneath the low- Family PARADREPANOPHORIDAE shore rocks at East Goleen and East Castle has been anoxic Paradrepanophorus crassus (Quatrefages, 1846) with no P. crassus. Specimens had a bright orange dorsum and paler ventral During annual sampling of monitoring sites from 1994 to the surfaces (Figure 2A, B); they were almost always found present, the large, orange nemertean Paradrepanophorus inside parchment tubes or had tubes near them. On some crassus was first observed in 2001. In the last 12 years, we occasions parchment tubes were found without worms, and Fig. 2. Specimens of Paradrepanophorus crassus photographed in August 2010 and September 2011: (A) dorsum of large (6 g wet weight), adult specimen; (B) view of the orange dorsum and pale ventral surface. Shiny parchment tubes visible in A and C; (C) specimen of Punnettia splendida and red polychaetes associated with many nemertean specimens; (D) close-up of polychaete. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Athens, on 29 Sep 2021 at 20:04:37, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267213000328 4 cynthia d. trowbridge et al. it was impossible to know whether these were old tubes or recently inhabited tubes. In 2009, 2010 and 2012, we recorded .20 specimens overall (Figure 3) and several of the specimens were substantially larger than we have seen before. In 2011, one of largest specimens collected from the new sites weighed 6 g (wet weight) (Figure 2A). Overall peak density (2012) was 0.31 P. crassus per metre of low shoreline searched. Values of 0.16/m were found in 2011 at the study sites and 0.14/m at the 18 areas searched. In June 2012, nemertean abundance was lower (0.04/m of shoreline) but this could have been a seasonal effect (mid-June vs late-August/ early-September sampling). Finally, one tube collected in June 2012 contained eggs. Based on numerous colour images of P. crassus and its membranous tubes, we have recorded frequent occurrences of a bright red polychaete in or near the tubes (e.g. Figure 2C, D). In 2011, polychaetes recorded in and around Fig. 4. Nemertean abundance in 10 m sections of the shore under low-shore the nemertean tubes included at least three species of rocks.