Berkeley, Edith. (1961). Swarming of the Polychaete Odontosyllis phosphorea Moore, var. Nanaimoensis Berkeley, near Nanaimo, B.C. Nature. 191(4795) 23 September 1961: 1321-1321.

498350

10.1038/1911321a0 [view]

Berkeley, Edith

1961

191(4795) 23 September 1961: 1321-1321

Publication

https://www.nature.com/articles/1911321a0

Annelidabase

[complete text] In a communication to Nature some years ago I mentioned that the annual concentration of the luminescent swarming forms of O. phosphorea in the channel at the entrance to Departure Bay during the summer and early autumn months could be partly attributed to the set of the currents around the islands in the vicinity. This channel has always been regarded as the classical locality from which these forms could be secured, but no effort to collect any had been made for many years until recently. Interest in them revived two years ago in connexion with work on bioluminescence; diligent search was made for them in the channel throughout the summer of 1959, but not a single individual was seen. If present, they are easily detected at dusk by their brilliant flashes of light when the sexual products are discharged. Moreover, a dredging run through the channel failed to secure an exampie of the atokous bottom-living form. The explanation is fairly clear. Since the worms were last collected there, a ferry service between Departure Bay and Vancouver has been established and boats of considerable draught ply many times daily through the channel. This creates sufficient disturbance to nullify entirely effects of currents and, apparently, to disperse the bottom dwellers, but this latter finding requires confirmation. It is most unfortunate that this should have occurred, and I write regretfully to advise fellow workers interested in bioluminescence that they can no longer rely with confidence on Departure Bay as an available source of swarming Odontosyllis phosphorea

North Pacific

Bioluminescence
Systematics, Taxonomy

Annelida
Polychaeta

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