Salmacina huxleyi ( Ehlers, 1887 )

Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando, McCANN, Linda D., Keppel, Erica & Ruiz, Gregory M., 2017, The fouling serpulids (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from United States coastal waters: an overview, European Journal of Taxonomy 344, pp. 1-76 : 48-49

Salmacina huxleyi ( Ehlers, 1887)

Figs 7 H–I, 10

Filigrana huxleyi Ehlers, 1887: 314–320 , pl. 56, figs 4–9 (type locality: Dry Tortugas and Loggerhead Key, southern Florida, United States; 26 m).

Salmacina dysteri (non Huxley 1855) – Hartman 1945: 48 (Beaufort, North Carolina; under shells and stones, shell fragments). — Rioja 1946: 202 (Veracruz, eastern Mexico; on tubes of the sabellid Sabellastarte indica (Savigny, 1822) , now Sabellastarte spectabilis (Grube, 1878)) . — Wells & Gray 1964: 74 (Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; hard substrates).

Salmacina sp. A – ten Hove & Wolf 1984: 55-7, figs 55-1, 55-2a–g (western Florida; 37–88 m; coarse to medium sand).

Filograna huxleyi – Perkins 1998: 95 (checklist of shallow-water polychaetes from Florida).

Salmacina huxleyi – Nogueira & ten Hove 2000: 158–159, Tables 1–2 (discussion).

Salmacina incrustans (non Claparède 1870) – Augener 1927: 81 –82, textfig. 9 (Spaanse Water, Cura ҫao, Caribbean Sea; on mangrove roots). — Augener 1934: 121 (Gairaca, Santa Marta, Colombian Caribbean; 30 m). — Bastida-Zavala & Salazar-Vallejo 2000a: 812 –813, fig. 4a–h (eastern Mexico: San Juan de Ulúa, Veracruz; San Felipe and Ría Lagartos, Yucatán; Puerto Morelos Beach, Nichupté Lagoon, Nizuc Point, Sam Point, Boca Paila, Contoy Island, Mujeres Island, Cozumel Island and Chinchorro Bank, Quintana Roo; intertidal to 43 m; mixed beaches, on rocks, seagrass, algae, corals, epifauna of the sea urchin Eucidaris tribuloides (Lamarck, 1816) , the sponge Agelas dispar , on vermetids, oysters and ascidians, and wood dock pilings).

Material examined

115 specimens: RI (2) Sep. 2001, IR (1) Aug. 2005, BB (110) Aug. 2004, CC (2) Sep. 2002.

Diagnosis

This species is gregarious and can build colonies. Tube white, thin; with minute transverse ridges; without peristomes, longitudinal ridges or alveoli ( Fig. 7H ). Branchial crown with four radioles per lobe. Without opercular peduncle or operculum ( Fig. 7H ). Collar with fin-and-blade chaetae, with 6–7 large teeth ( Fig. 7I ). Thorax with 7–9 segments; all thoracic chaetigers (except collar segment) with “ Apomatus ” chaetae.

Taxonomic remarks

Salmacina huxleyi is a tiny and non-operculate serpulid, and was the first species of the genus described (as Filigrana ) from the western Atlantic. Other Salmacina species, S. dysteri ( Huxley, 1855) and S. incrustans Claparède, 1870 , were described from Europe and recorded in several localities from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, among other localities around the world. There are three other species described from the western Atlantic, S. amphidentata Jones, 1962 , S. piranga (Grube, 1872) and S. ceciliae Nogueira & ten Hove, 2000 . Except for the latter species, which is well characterised, the differences between the other species ( S. amphidentata , S. huxleyi and S. piranga ) are very subtle and should be studied with scanning electron micrography ( Nogueira & ten Hove 2000; Ben-Eliahu & ten Hove 2011). Therefore, we currently prefer to use the name S. huxleyi , the first species described from this region.

Ecology

Intertidal to 43 m. Mixed bottoms, on rocks, seagrass, algae, corals, epifauna of the sea urchin Eucidaris tribuloides , the sponge Agelas dispar , vermetids, oysters and ascidians, and wood dock pilings ( Bastida-Zavala & Salazar-Vallejo 2000a).

Distribution

Gulf of Mexico, east coast of the United States and Caribbean Sea ( Augener 1927; Hartman 1945; ten Hove & Wolf 1984; Bastida-Zavala & Salazar-Vallejo 2000a). In this study, Salmacina huxleyi was abundant on fouling plates from Biscayne Bay, Florida and occasionally from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, the Indian River in Florida, and Corpus Christi, Texas ( Fig. 10 ). This species extends its northward range from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina ( Wells & Gray 1964) to Rhode Island (750 km).

Figures

Fig. 7. Serpulids from United States fouling plates. Pomatostegus stellatus. A. Operculum, from Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118825). – Protula balboensis. B–D. Tube, body and branchial crown, white arrow shows detail of rounded processes, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118825). E. Body of live adult from Smithsonian Institution station in Bocas del Toro, Panama (photo by Betel Martínez- Guerrero). – Pseudochitinopoma occidentalis. F. Operculum, Puget Sound, Washington (SERC- 33385R). – Pseudovermilia occidentalis. G. Operculum, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118450). – Salmacina huxleyi. H–I. Tubes, body and collar chaetae, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118449). – S. tribranchiata. J. Body, Galapagos Island (SERC-233687).

Fig. 10. Distribution of serpulids (Salmacina, Serpula and Spirobranchus spp.) from United States fouling plates (closed symbols) and literature records (open symbols).