Updating the current knowledge on the relationships between Haplosyllis chamaeleon Laubier, 1960 (Annelida, Syllidae) and Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) (Cnidaria, Plexauridae) in the Mediterranean Sea

Lisa Pola,Cristina Gioia Di Camillo,Daniel Martin,Barbara Calcinai,Daniela Pica,Carlo Cerrano

doi:10.1007/s12526-020-01127-y

Lisa Pola, Cristina Gioia Di Camillo + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01127-y

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Abstract

In the Mediterranean Sea, the symbiosis between the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) and the polychaete Haplosyllis chamaeleon Laubier, 1960 (Annelida, Syllidae, Syllinae) has only been documented from the western basin. Our findings extend its geographic distribution to the north-central basin and represent the first record of H. chamaeleon in Italy and Croatia. Periodic observations from the Ligurian Sea allowed establishing that the symbiont occurs on P. clavata almost throughout the year, showing a reproductive period longer than previously reported. Morphometric comparisons of three Mediterranean populations, from Portofino Promontory (Ligurian Sea), Cape of Creus (Catalan Sea) and Chafarinas Archipelago (Alboran Sea) proved that there were no significant differences in body measurements, whilst the observed differences in dorsal cirri length pattern could be consider intra-specific. Our behavioural observations confirm that the species had (i) a kleptoparasitic behaviour, (ii) did not cause injuries to the host and (iii) did not induce the host to generate any malformation.

Highlights

Symbiosis is common in marine ecosystems, especially in complex habitats like tropical and temperate bioconstructions, where competitive and cooperative interactions are highly frequent
Sex was determined by the type of gametes present, and, when these were not detectable, we considered the number of stolon chaetigers according to Martin et al (2002)
All polychaetes (i) showed the typical simple unidentate chaetae of the species, with those in anterior parapodia with slightly bidentate chaetae and those from posterior parapodia being more hooded and more clearly bidentate (Fig. 2b), (ii) were present in all studied months, except January 2018, and (iii) occurred in 65 out of the 192 (i.e. 34%) apical branches of P. clavata collected in Italy and Croatia (Table 1, Electronic Supplementary Material 1)

Summary

Introduction

Symbiosis is common in marine ecosystems, especially in complex habitats like tropical and temperate bioconstructions, where competitive and cooperative interactions are highly frequent. A particular type of bioconstructions are the submarine animal forests formed by gorgonians (Cerrano et al 2010). Their three-dimensional structures may affect edaphic conditions (Valisano et al 2016; Ponti et al 2018) and enhance. As much as 26% of the polychaetes living in association with cnidarians are Syllidae (Molodtsova et al 2016). Syllids have complex taxonomy (Aguado et al 2012) and their life strategies often include associations with sponges, cnidarians, molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms and other polychaetes (Martin and Britayev 1998, 2018). Only a few have octocoral hosts; amongst them Imajimaea draculai (San Martín and López, 2002) is a parasite of the pennatulacean Funiculina quadrangularis (Pallas, 1766)

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