A bloom of the green worm Phyllodoce tuberculosa Kudenov, 1975 in a beach of the Southern Gulf of California, Mexico (Annelida, Errantia, Phyllodocidae)

ABSTRACT

The massive presence of the green worm Phyllodoce tuberculosa Kudenov, 1975 on a beach of the southern Gulf of California (Mexico) is reported. It was found reaching densities of 48 ind/m² during low tides, 4 days before the full moon and during the full moon of March 2020. The population comprised mainly gravid females, in a sex ratio of 1:100 (1 male per 100 females). Mature oocytes measure 110–120 μm in diameter. Mature spermatozoa have a nearly spherical head, with an elliptical nucleus, a cap-like acrosome and a long flagellum (ect-aquasperm type). This is the first finding of P. tuberculosa since its description in 1975.

KEYWORDS:

• sea dragon worms
• paddle worms
• Polychaeta
• reproduction
• Sea of Cortez

Acknowledgements

It is with great pleasure that we thank Sergio I. Salazar-Vallejo (El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, ECOSUR), our colleague and ever-ready and ever-willing manuscript reader, who provided valuable suggestions. Feedback from Jerry Kudenov (University of Alaska Anchorage) and an anonymous reviewer are greatly appreciated. We are grateful to the respective collection managers of each collection who facilitated the donation and deposit of specimens: Pablo Hernández-Alcántara (CNAP-ICML, UNAM), Jesús Angel de León (UANL) and Michel E. Hendrickx (EMU-ICML).

Data deposition

Specimens examined in this study are deposited in the following collections under the following accession numbers:

UANL (8131, 8132), Colección Poliquetológica from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México.

ICML-EMU (12209), Colección Regional de Invertebrados Marinos, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

CNAP-ICML, UNAM (PO-22-038), Colección Nacional de Anélidos Poliquetos de México, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Geolocation information

Eastern Tropical Pacific, Gulf of California, México, Mazatlán, Playa Norte, 23.209608, -106.423069.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fondo Sectorial de Investigación Ambiental SEMARNAT-CONACYT (A3-S-73811). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.