Life Sciences Commons^™

Physiological And Behavior Studies Of Thelepus Crispus And Its Commensal Halosydna Brevisetosa, John B. Morgan

Dissertations and Theses

Chemical, physical and physiological interactions between the marine commensal scaleworm Halosydna brevisetosa Kinberg and its terebellid host, Thelepus crispus Johnson were investigated. In an experiment designed to test for chemical attraction between the host and commensal, Halosydna were unable to identify the arm in a U-tube choice apparatus leading to the host. In 50 trials, 54% of the commensals crawled into the flow of water from their hosts. Other observations showed that Halosydna made contact with the host by random encounter. After contact, commensals followed tentacles down into the host’s tube and took up a characteristic position along the dorsum …