Article Citation:
Muruganantham M, Mohan PM, Karunakumari R and Vibha V. Ubare
First report of Nereis (Neanthes) virens (Sars) an epitoky polychaete worm from Middle Strait, Baratang, Andaman Island, India
Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(5): 1769-1774
Journal of Research in Biology
First report of Nereis (Neanthes) virens (Sars) an epitoky polychaete worm from Middle Strait, Baratang, Andaman Island, India
Keywords:
Nereis (Nthesean) virens (Sars), epitoky, polychaete, Baratang, Andaman Sea, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
ABSTRACT:
A sudden and mass outburst of the epitoky polychaete worm Nereis (Neanthes) virens (Sars)/ Alitta virens was observed of the surface waters of Middle Strait, Baratang, South Andaman Island during July 2014. This polychaeta worm was studied for its morphology and structural characteristics. We have taken nine consecutive seasonal samplings from July 2011 to January 2015, this was the first appearance of these worms in such a huge mass. These epitoky worms were observed in the month of July 2014 during monsoonal season in Andaman Nicobar Islands. Even though detailed studies were carried out on this worm in the world oceans, the present observation was the first report on the tropical island ecosystem of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
1769-1774 | JRB | 2015 | Vol 5 | No 5
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Authors:
Muruganantham M, Mohan PM, Karunakumari R and Vibha V. Ubare.
Institution:
Department of Ocean
Studies and Marine
Pondicherry University, Brookshabad Campus,
Port Blair – 744 112, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.
Corresponding author:
Mohan PM
Email Id:
Web Address:
http://jresearchbiology.com/documents/RA0508.pdf
Dates:
Received: 23 Jan 2015 Accepted: 08 Feb 2015 Published: 30 June 2015
Journal of Research in Biology
An International Scientific Research Journal
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
ISSN No: Print: 2231 –6280; Online: 2231- 6299
INTRODUCTION
The Nereis virens is commonly known as sand worm and king ragworm which is used as bait for fishes. This species belongs to a group of polychaete worm which has a distinct head with sensory organs and well developed parapodia (Westheide et al., 1999). The pair of chitinous jaws and many small denticles on the eversible proboscis of Nereis virens are used for grasping the prey (Gong 2003). The Nereis virens is of potential research significance; it can be cultured and maintained in the laboratory (Goerke 1971, 1984; Kristensen, 1984). In estuarine food web this species serves both as predator and prey and is thus an important component of this eco system (Heip and Herman 1979). Further, it is also a potential prey in the marine food webs and the shore birds Gull and Turns are often dependent on this worm (Spaans 1971; Shklyarevich 1979). This sand worms are also used in recreational fisheries for black fish, blue fish, bluke, pogy, weak fish, sea bass, striped bass, spot fish and flounder fish on Atlantic Gulf and Pacific coasts (Creaser et al., 1983) as a bait. Large amount of marine polychaete Nereis virens are imported to California from the U.S east coast as fishing bait (Cohen 2001). Moreover, Nereis virens and Nereis caeca polychaete annelids play an important role in the reworking of fluorescent particles, with in these the Nereis virens carry particles to their burrows (Piot et al., 2008). Nereis virens is an important species of estuarine sediments and also capable of surviving in high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) envrionment (Jorgensen, 2005). It is a semelparous polychaete and dies soon after reproduction (Bass and Brafield, 1972; Olive et al., 1998). During sexual maturation (epitoky), the species Nereis virens is characterized by behavioral, morphological and physiological changes which enforces the benthic worms for a brief pelagic life and then the mature male leaves their burrows to swarm and devoted for mating (Brafield and Chapman, 1967; Bass and Brafield, 1972; Snow and Marsden, 1974; Dean, 1978; Creaser and Cliffered, 1982; Wilson and Ruff, 1988). The enzymatic changes observed are likely related to the metabolic adjustment required to support higher level swimming abilities (Goerke, 1979; Hebert et al., 2008). As reported by Kristensen (1984) Nereis virens are known to exhibit spawning synchronous with new moon during the month of April with the water temperature of 10oc - 12°C. The low seawater temperature is favourable than the optimum temperature and strong selective pressure favours for reproduction of semelparous polychaete Nereis virens (Lewis et al., 2003). Nereis virens is an omnivorous animal (Fauchald and Jumars 1979) however, as reported by Goerke (1971) and Theede et al., (1973) it is herbivore that lives on Woods Hole.
Study Area
Baratang Island is located about 92 km North of Port Blair (Fig. 1). This Island is approximately 19 km long and 5 km wide with moderately high relief covered with thick forest (Rajshekhar, 1992) as well as known for its active mud valcano (Srinivasan, 1986). The middle strait separates Port Blair from Baratang Island. This strait is a major connectivity of the two major seas which are designated as Bay of Bengal in the western side and Andaman Sea on the eastern side of this Island. The role of tidal current is found to be an important factor in this strait; where during high tide the water current moves towards Andaman Sea where as during low tide the water is pushed towards the Bay of Bengal. The current speed is considered to be approximately 2-3 nautical
miles. The width of the strait is 200 to 250 m in an average. The mangroves are densely covered on both the sides along the strait. The sediment type is muddy and clayey with debris.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, salinity, pH, Eh, dissolved Oxygen (DO), turbidity and depth are measured at in situ by using Quanta Hydrolab equipment. The zooplankton samples were collected using the standard Indian Ocean Zooplankton net, hauling through the motorized dingy. The dingy were operated at two nautical mile speed for 10 minutes and the flow meter reading were noted at start and end of the collection. The observed worms in the zooplankton samples were separated out and preserved in 10% formaldehyde solution. The samples were brought to the laboratory and studies for structural and morphological characters were done using stereoscopic binocular microscope (Nikon SMZ 1500). Photographs were taken using Nikon Cool Pix p6000 Microscopic camera. The samples were preserved in a glass container and the specimens were kept for reference purpose.
Systematic position of the studied polychaete (****)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta (Grube 1850)
Order: Phyllodocida (Williams1815(
Family: Nereida (Blainville 1818)
Genus: Nereis (Linnaeus 1758)
Species: Virens (Sars 1835)
Diagnostic Features (Fig. 2, 3 and 4)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Even though continuous monitoring of this study area was done for last five years i.e. July 2011 to January 2015, this occurrence of Nereis virens was found only in the period of July 2014. The surface waters of the strait
had countless number of individuals with very rapid swimming activities. The collected samples were examined in the laboratory and confirmed as the semelparous polychaete Nereis virens (Sars). According to the Presvions reports, this semelparous polychaete Nereis virens is mostly inhabituated in the temperate regions. According to Kristensen (1984) this species required a temperature of 10oC to 20°C for spawning. However, during the day of collection in the present study the temperature of the surface water was 28.67°C, salinity was 31.94 PSU (Table 1) and also a new moon day. Creaser and Cliffered (1984) and Wilson and Ruff (1989) reported that the male species of Nereis virens would swarm on the water column at new moon days. However, in the Indian Ocean, especially in Andaman Sea, of Andaman and Nicobar regions no such early reports on semelparous polychaete - Nereis virens were found. This information was further confirmed by the available reports of Soota and Rao (1977), Soota et al., (1980) and Rajasekaran and Fernando (2012) who had reported one hundred and ninety one species of polychaete from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Aungtonya et al., (2002) formulated a data base and check list of polychaetes from Puckhet Marine Biological Center, Thailand, and Idrish and Arshad (2013) also produced a check list of polychaetous
annelids in Malaysia, which also did not include this species in these waters.
Based on the above inferences, it is suspected that the cold deep waters may have been upwelled anywhere nearby the study area and the warming up of water may lead to the epitoky condition of Nereis Virens. This was further supported by the reports of Sachithanandam et al., (2013) who stated that deep cold waters was noticed in the north of the study region. Cold ballistic waters from the international ships could also be a cause for this sudden appearance of epitoky of Nereis virens.
CONCLUSION
The present study could be concluded that the studied polychaete species Nereis virens is a first report on this part of the ocean waters. Further, it is also be considered as a invasive species to the Andaman water from the deep cold waters occurred from nearby waters or by ship’s ballistic discharge.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors thank the Central Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Earth Science, Kochi for funding this work (MOES/CMLRE/10-IT IS/5/2012, Date: 01/10/2012). Also the Head, Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology and Other authorities of Pondicherry University are acknowledged to provide facilities for executing this project.
REFERENCES
Aungtonya C, Thaipal S and Bussarawit S. 2002. A List of Polychaetes (Annelida) in the Reference collecection Database of the Phuket Marine Biological Center, Thailand. Phuket Marine Biological Center Special Publication 24:21-32
.Bass NR and Brafiel AE. 1972. The life cycle of Polychaete Nereis virens. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 52: 701-726.
Brafield AE and Chapman G. 1967. Gametogenesis and breeding in a natural population of Nereis virens. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 47:619-627.
Cohen NC, Weinstein A, Emmet MA, Lau W and Carlton JT. 2001. Investigations into the Introduction of Non-indigenous Marine Organisms Via the Cross-Continental Trade in Marine Baitworms. A report for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service San Francisco Bay Program 1-28.
Creaser EP and Clifford DA. 1982. Life History Studies of the Sandworm Nereis virens Sars, In the Sheepscote Estuary Maine. Fishery Bulletin 80 (4):735-743.
Creaser EP, Clifford DA, Hogan MJ and Sampson DB. 1983. A Commercial Sampling Program for sandworms, Nereis virens Sars and Blood Worms, Glycera dibranchiata Ehlers, Harvested along the Maine Coast. NOAA Technical Reports NMFS SSRF-767.
Dean D. 1978. Migration of the Sandworm Nereis virens during Winter Nights. Marine Biology 45:165-173.
Fauchald K and Jumars PA. 1979. The Diet of Worms: A Study of Polychaete Feeding Guilds. Oceanography and Marine Biology A Review 17:193-284.
Goerke H. 1971. Die Ernahrangwise der Nereis-arten (Polychaeta: Nereidae) Der Duetschen Kusten. Verof Institute Meeresforch, Bremeth 13:1-50.
Goerke H. 1979. Nereis virens (Polychaeta) in marine pollution research: culture methods and oral administration of a polychlorinated biphenyl. Veroeff. Inst. Meeres-Forsch, Bremerhaven, 17: 151-161.
Goerke H. 1984. Temperature dependence of swarming in North Sea Neredidae. Fort Zool, 29:39-43.
Piot A, Rochon A, Stora G and Desrosiers G. 2008. Experimental Study on Influence of Bioturbation Performed by Nepthys caeca (Fabricus) and Nereis virens (Sars) Annelidae on the Distribution of Dianoflagellate Cysts in the Sediment. JEMBE 339:92-101.
Rajasekaran R and Fernando OJ. 2012. Polychaetes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Springer, chapter-1.PP: 1-5. Doi: 10. 1007/978-3-642-28335-2_1.
Rajshekhar C. 1992. The Genus Hantkenina from Baratang Island, Andaman, India. JGSI 39:495-501.
Sachithanandam V, Mohan PM, Karthik R, Sai Elengovan S and Padmavati G. 2013. Climate Changes Influence the Phytoplankton Bloom (Preimnesiophycea: Phaeocystis spp.) In North Andaman Coastal Region. IJGMS 42:58-66.
Shklyarevich GA. 1979. Role of Nereis virens Sars in the feeding of marine birds of Kankalaksha Bay of the white Sea. Sov Jour of Ecol 10:158-160.
Snow DR and Marsden JR. 1974. Life Cycle, Weight and Possible Age Distribution in a Population of Nereis virens (Sars) from New Brunswick. Jour of Natl Hist 8:513-527.
Soota TD and Rao CAN. 1977. On Some Polychaetes from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Rect Zoolo Sur of Ind 73: 97-210.
Soota TD, Misra A and Chakraborty RK. 1980. Polychaete fauna of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Rect Zoolo Sur of Ind 77:55-69.
Spanns AL. 1971. On the Feeding Ecology of the Herring Gull Larus argentatus pont. In the northern part of the Netherlands. Ardea 59:73-188.
Srinivasan MS. 1986. Geology of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Jour of And Sci Assocn 2(1):1-12.
Theede H, Schaudinn J and Saffe F. 1973. Ecophysiological studies on four Nereis species of the kiel Bay. Oikos 15:246-256.
Westheide W, McHugh D, Purschke G and Rouse G. 1999. Systematization of the Annelida: different approaches. Hydrobiologia, 402:291-307.
Wilson WH and Ruff RE. 1988. Species Profile: Life histories and environmental requirements of coastal fishes and invertebrates (North Atlantic) Sand worm and Blood worm. Biological report 82.pollution research: culture methods and oral administration of a polychlorinated biphenyl. Veroeff. Inst. Meeres-Forsch, Bremerhaven, 17: 151-161.
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Parameters |
Surface |
05 m |
10 m |
15 m |
Temperature-°C |
28.67 |
28.58 |
28.56 |
28.53 |
Dissolved Oxygen-ml/L |
05.49 |
05.01 |
04.87 |
04.76 |
pH |
08.76 |
08.79 |
08.74 |
08.72 |
Salinity-PSU |
31.94 |
32.60 |
32.82 |
32.90 |
ORP-mv |
-232 |
-234 |
-235 |
-237 |
Turbidity - NTU |
01.60 |
01.00 |
01.70 |
19.70 |
Table 1 Physico-chemical parameters
of the seawater
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Fig. 1 Location of the Study Area
Muruganantham et al., 2015
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Figure 3. Nereis virens Ventral View
Figure 4. Microscopic photo of Nereis virens 10x7.8 X
Figure 5. Head with eversible Proboscis
Figure 2. Nereis virens Dorsal View
Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(5): 1769-1774 1773
Muruganantham et al., 2015
Figure 6 Head with Denticular Jaws and Paraganths
Muruganantham et al., 2015
1774 Journal of Research in Biology (2015) 5(5): 1769-1774
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