This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists have announced a new genus of deep-sea segmented marine "spaghetti worms" with suction cups on their bodies, showing just how much undiscovered biodiversity is out there in the deep seas around Australia. Terebellosuctoria is the latest addition to the polychaetes, a class of marine worms with segmented bodies that have appendages called parapodia (side feet) armed with multiple bristles.
They may resemble centipedes, but their close relatives are terrestrial earthworms. The new genus name, Terebellosuctoria ("terebellids with suckers"), was inspired by the unusual sucker-like structures on the underside of the body. Australian Museum senior research scientist Dr.
Elena Kupriyanova said that when she showed the specimens to co-authors, they realized they belonged to an entirely new genus of spaghetti worms. "The sucker-like structure is what makes this new genus so interesting and unique," Kupriyanova said. While finding new deep-sea species is not uncommon, it is rare for scientists to establish a new genus.
The study, published in Records of the Australian Museum, examined marine worm specimens collected on voyages led by Museums Victoria aboard the CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator in 2021 and 2022. More than 850 marine worms were collected during the deep-sea expeditions to the seamounts of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 13 species new to science have already been described. The paper reveals an additional seven new species of marine worms from three families, two of them from the new genus Terebellosuctoria of the family Terebellidae.
One memorable species was collected on a seamount over 670 meters (2,200 feet) deep near the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The numerous branching brown "tentacles" stood out when specimens were brought up by a beam trawl. Kupriyanova said she then spotted multiple orange spheres among the "branches." "I thought that those look suspiciously a lot like polychaete eggs," Kupriyanova said.
Closer examination and dissection revealed the "branching organism" was in fact not an animal itself, but the elaborate extensions of a worm's tubes. Spaghetti worms build tubes in soft sediments and are so called because of their numerous long tentacles, which they use to collect fine food particles on the surface of the sediment. From the tubes emerged bright orange marine worms, some up to 75 mm (3 inches) long.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
