AsianScientist (Jul. 1, 2013) – A peculiar sweet potato-like spoon worm, Arhynchite hayaoi, has been discovered in Japan.
The unique new species, described in the open access journal Zookeys, derives is name from its elongated and spoon-like projection (the proboscis) issuing from the sweet potato-like roundish body (the trunk).
Arhynchite hayaoi was discovered on a sandy tidal flat named Hachi-no-higata of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. Like most spoon worms, the new species has the typical spoon-shaped proboscis. The animal is of a pinkish-yellow color, and it is about 10 centimeters long.
Spoon worms, scientifically called Echiura, are a small group of exclusively marine animals. Although they are members of annelid worms, most of which has segmented structure, they have lost segmentation during their evolutionary history.
Like the new species from Japan, most spoon worms live in shallow waters, but some are connected with deep sea waters. Most representatives are deposit feeders, which means that they use their “spoon” to collect organic particles or fragments from their surroundings.
Previously confused with a different species, the newly described spoon worm used to be in fact rather abundant and collected in great numbers from intertidal to subtidal sandy bottoms for fish bait in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. Now that the true identity of the species is recognized, it seems to be in decline, with numbers dropping to a point where the spoon worm lost this economic importance.
The article can be found at: Tanaka M et al. (2013) A new species of the genus Arhynchite (Annelida, Echiura) from sandy flats of Japan, previously referred to as Thalassema owstoni Ikeda, 1904.
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Source: Pensoft Publishers; Photo: Teruaki Nishikawa.
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