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Morphology and reproductive biology of a new Pseudopolydora (Annelida: Spionidae) species from the Arabian Gulf

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Abstract

The Asian Pacific spionid polychaete worm Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata (Okuda, 1937) has been repeatedly reported from the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Our recent molecular study showed that the Pacific and the Arabian populations of these worms are not conspecific. Here we describe adult, gamete, and larval morphology of worms from the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait, as the new species Pseudopolydora arabica sp. nov. Adults are characterized by the presence of intense yellow pigment on the prostomium, the dorsal side of the anterior chaetigers, and up to 50 ramified yellow chromatophores on each palp. Males produce thread-like wavy spermatophores about 10 μm in diameter and up to 2 mm long. Females store sperm in seminal receptacles on the dorsal side of fertile chaetigers and lay up to 1500 eggs into 35 capsules joined to each other in a string; each is attached by one stalk to the inner wall of the tube. Eggs are 100−103 μm in diameter, with smooth and thin envelopes, which develop into 3-chaetiger larvae inside the capsules. Hatched larvae are planktotrophic and settle and metamorphose at about 17 chaetigers. Adults inhabit silty tubes in soft sediments forming aggregations of up to 50,000 individuals per 1 m2.

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Acknowledgments

Our sincere thanks to Anna Zhadan, Vladimir Grintsov, and Zeinab Sattari for help in sampling in the field and sample processing in the laboratory; Dieter Fiege for help with the polychaete collection at the Senckenberg Museum (SMF), Frankfurt am Main, Germany; and James T. Carlton for comments and editing the final version of the manuscript. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for their important comments.

Funding

Financial support for the FM075C Project “Biodiversity, Distribution and Abundance of Intertidal Macrofauna in Kuwait” was provided by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. A.V. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 17 Palchevsky Street, Vladivostok, Russia, 690041

    Vasily I. Radashevsky

  2. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, 22107, Salmiya, Kuwait

    Manal Al-Kandari

Authors
  1. Vasily I. Radashevsky
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  2. Manal Al-Kandari
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Correspondence to Vasily I. Radashevsky.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed by the authors.

Sampling and field studies

Sampling and field studies were performed using facilities at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). All necessary permits for sampling were issued by the Kuwait Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The study is compliant with CBD and Nagoya protocols.

Data availability

All sample data reported by this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary material file.

Author contributions

MAK developed and led the FM075C Project “Biodiversity, Distribution and Abundance of Intertidal Macrofauna in Kuwait,” and organized sampling in the field and sample processing in the laboratory. VIR identified spionid polychaetes and wrote the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Communicated by P. C. Paiva

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Radashevsky, V.I., Al-Kandari, M. Morphology and reproductive biology of a new Pseudopolydora (Annelida: Spionidae) species from the Arabian Gulf. Mar. Biodivers. 50, 112 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01123-2

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