Nephasoma diaphanes diaphanes (Gerould, 1913)
A cosmopolitan species - the most common sipunculan in deep-sea communities.
Size
- Common trunk length: 5mm
- Maximum trunk length: 55mm
Color & Characteristics
- Whitish, transparent or translucent body wall
- Two retractors
- Transparent or translucent body wall
- Introvert shorter than the trunk with a few short tentacular lobes
- Scattered, spine-like hooks
- Immature specimens of other Nephasoma species might be (and very often are so the literature is full of unavoidable noise on this issue) easily mistaken with N. diaphanes
- Larger shelter dwellers may have enlarged and darker posterior papillae
Habitat & Distribution
- Present from the wide range of bathymetric distribution
- Very common in deep-sea communities
- It inhabits sand, silt, clay and mud
- It often lives in foraminiferan tests or small polychaete tubes
- In Svalbard found at depths from 40-2553m
Feeding
- Scavenger, predator on annelid worms, crustaceans, brittle stars and mollusks
Life cycle
- Dioecious
- Probably trochophore larva
Page Author: Monika Kedra
Created: August 19, 2010
