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Every year, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) nominates ten remarkable new marine species.
We will be introducing these marine species one by one, and one of these special species is Rhabdopleura emancipata.
Rhabdopleura is a genus of marine invertebrate in the class Pterobranch, a small, colonial, filter-feeding marine species that lives in a tube on the seabed, and was collected there partially in a detached state.
It forms a three-dimensional tangle that grows freely in the water column – a unique morphology that was previously unknown in existing species.
It was discovered on deep-sea corals at a depth of 1008 – 1075 meters, making it the deepest record of the genus to date.
The colony was relatively large, with a diameter of about 4.5 cm, and formed a “ball”.
Pterobranchia are colonial filter feeders and, as their name suggests, closely related to chordates (chordates are a phylum of the animal kingdom), although the exact relationship between this lineage, echinoderms and chordates is still somewhat unclear.
Observed epibionts on Rhabdopleura emancipata:
an Ancestrula of Chaperia sp. (Bryozoa) and below a juvenile foraminifer Sporadotrema cylindricum
Chaperiopsis sp. (Bryozoa), Celleporina sp. (Bryozoa), annelid tube draped along a main tube
Galeopsis brevissimus (Bryozoa)
Units of a chain-like, unidentified epibiont on a main tube
Strongylopora gracilis (Bryozoa)
Microtylostylifer sp. (Porifera)
Tubulipora sp. (Bryozoa)
The colony of Rhabdopleura emancipata has numerous main tubes. The distal end of each tube has a linear series of zooids that develop successively towards the distal end.
Each zooid is in turn cut off by a septum and appears to initiate an upright ringed tube via a secondarily formed opening (foramen).
Etymology:
The specific name “emancipata” is derived from Latin and means “set free”, in allusion to the only colony found so far that is not attached to any other body.
We would like to express our special thanks to Dr. R. Dennis Gordon, New Zealand, the lead author of the study “Four new species and a ribosomal phylogeny of Rhabdopleura (Hemichordata: Graptolithina) from New Zealand, with a review and key to all described extant taxa”
Literature reference:
Gordon, Dennis & Quek, Randolph & HUANG, DANWEI. (2024).
Four new species and a ribosomal phylogeny of Rhabdopleura (Hemichordata: Graptolithina) from New Zealand, with a review and key to all described extant taxa.
Zootaxa. 5424. 323-357. 10.11646/zootaxa.5424.3.3.
We will be introducing these marine species one by one, and one of these special species is Rhabdopleura emancipata.
Rhabdopleura is a genus of marine invertebrate in the class Pterobranch, a small, colonial, filter-feeding marine species that lives in a tube on the seabed, and was collected there partially in a detached state.
It forms a three-dimensional tangle that grows freely in the water column – a unique morphology that was previously unknown in existing species.
It was discovered on deep-sea corals at a depth of 1008 – 1075 meters, making it the deepest record of the genus to date.
The colony was relatively large, with a diameter of about 4.5 cm, and formed a “ball”.
Pterobranchia are colonial filter feeders and, as their name suggests, closely related to chordates (chordates are a phylum of the animal kingdom), although the exact relationship between this lineage, echinoderms and chordates is still somewhat unclear.
Observed epibionts on Rhabdopleura emancipata:
an Ancestrula of Chaperia sp. (Bryozoa) and below a juvenile foraminifer Sporadotrema cylindricum
Chaperiopsis sp. (Bryozoa), Celleporina sp. (Bryozoa), annelid tube draped along a main tube
Galeopsis brevissimus (Bryozoa)
Units of a chain-like, unidentified epibiont on a main tube
Strongylopora gracilis (Bryozoa)
Microtylostylifer sp. (Porifera)
Tubulipora sp. (Bryozoa)
The colony of Rhabdopleura emancipata has numerous main tubes. The distal end of each tube has a linear series of zooids that develop successively towards the distal end.
Each zooid is in turn cut off by a septum and appears to initiate an upright ringed tube via a secondarily formed opening (foramen).
Etymology:
The specific name “emancipata” is derived from Latin and means “set free”, in allusion to the only colony found so far that is not attached to any other body.
We would like to express our special thanks to Dr. R. Dennis Gordon, New Zealand, the lead author of the study “Four new species and a ribosomal phylogeny of Rhabdopleura (Hemichordata: Graptolithina) from New Zealand, with a review and key to all described extant taxa”
Literature reference:
Gordon, Dennis & Quek, Randolph & HUANG, DANWEI. (2024).
Four new species and a ribosomal phylogeny of Rhabdopleura (Hemichordata: Graptolithina) from New Zealand, with a review and key to all described extant taxa.
Zootaxa. 5424. 323-357. 10.11646/zootaxa.5424.3.3.
