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Juveniles stick to adults: recruitment of the tube-dwelling polychaete Lanice conchilega (Pallas, 1766)

Ruth Callaway

Hydrobiologia, Volume: 503, Issue: 1-3, Pages: 121 - 130

Swansea University Author: Ruth Callaway

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Abstract

Juveniles of the tube-dwelling polychaete L. conchilega were found attached to adult tubes at an exposed beachin South Wales (U.K.). They attached to the upper part of tubes protruding above the sediment. The aim of thisstudy was to determine the timing of juvenile settlement on to adult tubes, thei...

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Published in: Hydrobiologia
ISSN: 0018-8158
Published: 2003
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13085
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Abstract: Juveniles of the tube-dwelling polychaete L. conchilega were found attached to adult tubes at an exposed beachin South Wales (U.K.). They attached to the upper part of tubes protruding above the sediment. The aim of thisstudy was to determine the timing of juvenile settlement on to adult tubes, their abundance and size distribution,and the time of detachment and densities in the sediment after re-settlement. Furthermore, to establish whether thesediment composition of juvenile tubes differed from those of adults and the surrounding sediment. In 1998, 1999and 2000, tubes of adult L. conchilega were sampled and numbers of attached juveniles were quantified and theirsizes measured. Densities of solitary L. conchilega in the sediment were estimated, as well as the size distributionof solitary tubes. On average, 5–13 juveniles were attached to single adult tubes in spring, but numbers variedgreatly with up to 72 juveniles on a single tube in April 1998. Availability of a hard substratum and chemical cuesare discussed as potential factors triggering the attachment of juveniles to adult tubes. Juveniles started to detachand re-settle in the sediment 1 month after attachment. Once settled in the sediment, juvenile numbers decreasedsteeply, but the size distribution of solitary L. conchilega suggested that some juveniles survived in the population.However, the extent to which numbers of juvenile recruits contribute to the density of adults remained unclear.Juveniles used a smaller mean particle size for tube building than adults, but both actively selected particles.
Keywords: attached juveniles, Lanice conchilega, polychaetes, recruitment, tubes, Wales
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 1-3
Start Page: 121
End Page: 130