#aphroditidae

[polychaete-of-the-day]

Today's worm is this lovely sea mouse, Aphrodita aculeata.

Photos by MichaelMaggs and Gert Oxby

[drhoz]

Hi I am just wondering what is the strangest thing or creature you have found? I spent some time in 91 relieving train drivers at Parkeston and days off went out to Grants Patch looking for gems and even did a few skydives at Kambalda, slept through an earthquake in Kalgoorlie, got shown through the inner sanctum of the mayoral chambers by the mayor but I never discovered anything other than a great landscape and loved it so much came back on the Indian Pacific and explored Perth and a smidgeon of Western Australia and a couple more skydives at Pinjarra.

Good question! I've certainly been asked to ID some VERY odd stuff, some of which turned out to be first known records from Australia, but the oddest I've ever personally encountered was probably a Sea Mouse, very plump, furry, oval, hand-sized predatory marine worms.

[krungu5]

This is Aphrodita aculeata, also known as the sea mouse! It is a species of bristle worm that possesses brilliantly bright hair-like structures known as setae. Unlike mammalian hairs (which are made of keratin), setae are composed of chitin. These setae are actually hollow tubes composed of hexagonal cylinders; the structure of the setae allows for their spines to reflect visible light with a reflectivity of 100% to the human eye. This is why it appears so vividly kaleidoscopic. The scales covering its back are its elytra which are not actually morphologically equivalent or even related to the elytra possessed by beetles.

They typically grow between 10-20 centimetres long, and their main diet consists of other annelid worms and crabs. They were noted by researchers to devour prey up to three times its size head first: Gunnar Thorson was quoted as saying that it was similar "to a hedgehog swallowing a snake". They were also noted to only feed when their head was underneath the sand (its preferred state of being), and it would only eat at night.

Unlike many other bristle worms, the sea mouse moves itself forward in a "fast stepping pattern" instead of a more undulating motion.

Its setae have a potential use in the manufacturing of nanowires due to the same properties that produces their iridescence.

A bio-originated porous template for the fabrication of very long, inorganic nanotubes and nanowires | Request PDF

Request PDF | A bio-originated porous template for the fabrication of very long, inorganic nanotubes and nanowires | A biopolymer-based temp

Aphrodite's iridescence - Nature

The most intense colours displayed in nature result from either multilayer reflectors or linear diffraction gratings1,2,3. Here we investiga

Decay and preservation of polychaetes: taphonomic thresholds in soft-bodied organisms | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core

Decay and preservation of polychaetes: taphonomic thresholds in soft-bodied organisms - Volume 19 Issue 1

Functional design and evolution of the polychaete Aphrodite aculeata | Request PDF

Request PDF | Functional design and evolution of the polychaete Aphrodite aculeata | The body form of Aphrodite is attributed to its exploit

On the feeding habits of Aphrodita aculeata and commensal polynoids | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom | C

On the feeding habits of Aphrodita aculeata and commensal polynoids - Volume 60 Issue 3

Review of the North East Atlantic and Mediterranean species of Aphrodita Linnaeus, 1758 and Aphroditella Roule, 1898 (Polychaeta: Aphroditid

Request PDF | Review of the North East Atlantic and Mediterranean species of Aphrodita Linnaeus, 1758 and Aphroditella Roule, 1898 (Polychae

[animalids]

Sea mouse (Aphrodita aculeata)

Photo by Jim Anderson

[polychaete-of-the-day]

hey! you should do some of these on sea mice (i know it doesnt sound like a polychaete but it is) i only just found out they exist a little bit ago and would be cool. in my opinion scariest looking polychaetes

I HAVE done a single sea mouse but that was a long time ago. So about time for a second one! Today's worm is Aphrodita japonica, which really is just a sandy blob with bits of fur. As one tag put it, 'when you vacuum up some tinsel'.

Photo by Pat Webster