Functional morphology and feeding behavior of Polydora commensalis (Polychaeta: Spionidae)

摘要: Polydora commensalis Andrews bores into snail shells occupied by hermit crabs and typically produces a tube along the colum ella of the shell. In the lower Chesapeake Bay, USA, and inner continental shelf off the mouth of the bay, worms were found associated with four species of hermit crabs and the shells offive species of gastropods. Variability in the occurrence of this worm between shell types and collection sites indicated that selection of shell types, although not highly specific, was not random. For llyanassaobsolete shells there was a trend of increasing percent occurrence of the worm with increasing size of the snail shell, size of the hermit crab and the amount of fouling of the shell.The morphology of the tentacular palps was studied and compared to other species of Polydora. The cilia of the palps are organized into two groups-frontal cilia along the food groove and small non-motile cilia in tufts at the tips …