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Animal Sciences Commons

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VIMS Articles

2007

Symbiotic Egg Predator; Red King Crab; De-Fuca Ridge; N-Sp Nemertea; Paralithodes-Camtschatica; Cold Seeps; Crustaceans; Host; Infestation; Australia

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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

New Nemertean Worms (Carcinonemertidae) On Bythograeid Crabs (Decapoda : Brachyura) From Pacific Hydrothermal Vent Sites, Jeffrey D. Shields, M Segonzac Jan 2007

New Nemertean Worms (Carcinonemertidae) On Bythograeid Crabs (Decapoda : Brachyura) From Pacific Hydrothermal Vent Sites, Jeffrey D. Shields, M Segonzac

VIMS Articles

Several species of crabs from hydrothermal vent sites in the Pacific Ocean Were found to be infested by small, symbiotic nemertean worms. Worms occurred on both male and female crabs, and were located in mucous sheaths adhering to the axillae between the limbs of males and females, the setae of the pleopods of females, and the sterna of infested male and female crabs. Only juvenile and regressed adult worms were observed, primarily because no ovigerous hosts were examined. Similar species of worms mature by eating eggs, then regress or die after host eclosion. Based on the size of the worms …