• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

JadeCraven.Org

My Nature Blog

  • About
  • Trip Reports
  • Life List

Geelong And Surrounds

Nereididae Species at St Helens Boat Ramp

April 14, 2023 by Jade Craven

26-P4130113

We were exploring the critters at St Helens boat ramp recently when Seth discovered many of these worms next to the ramp. We hadn’t seen them before so Seth caught one in a net to get a closer look. I was concerned about it being out of the water for too long so only got a couple of photos.

I waited a while before putting them on Facebook, as I get concerned about asking too many questions. Being anxious and an amateur can make things interesting! It turns out is a type of polychaete worm in the nereididae family. I tried to do some Googling to help me identify species from this family…. and I think I ended up more confused than before.

According to this website

Nereidids are long and slender worms of medium size found among algae, gravel and shells on hard substrates, or digging into soft substrates. They are characterised, among other features, by well-developed parapodia, and an eversible pharynx with two prominent black jaws and small sclerotised teeth on the surface of the pharynx. During reproduction, many species leave the sea-bed and swarm towards the surface

The important features are the parapodia and pharynx. I tried looking up where the pharynx is with these worms, but had trouble finding any basic resources on where the pharynx is. According to one of the marine research group guides, it’s important to collect and photograph with pharynx everted.

In one of the photos, it looked like the worm had filiform branchiae, or gills. This meant that it could belong to the Marphysa genus. In 2018, the species in the genus were under review. A new paper came out in 2020, but I’m struggling to make sense of the current information let alone any new information. A lot of these papers aren’t accessible to the super newbie.

Another person commented that the worm was also an epitoke. According to Wikipedia,

Epitoky is a process that occurs in many species of polychaete marine worms wherein a sexually immature worm (the atoke) is modified or transformed into a sexually mature worm (the epitoke)

They swim towards to the surface during reproduction, so it makes sense that we would see sexually mature worms. The aforementioned pink branchiae were apparently ‘the additional lamellae of the epitoke’s modified parapodia.’

I’ve put pause on trying to learn more about these worms. I’m in waaaay over my head here. I’d rather focus on flatworms 🙂

[Read more…] about Nereididae Species at St Helens Boat Ramp

Filed Under: Geelong And Surrounds

St Helens Boat Ramp at Night: April 13

April 14, 2023 by Jade Craven

2-P4130007

I’ve loosely organized these photos according to theme, but I haven’t tried to identify them.

[Read more…] about St Helens Boat Ramp at Night: April 13

Filed Under: Geelong And Surrounds

Bat Flowers At Geelong Botanical Gardens

April 2, 2023 by Jade Craven

Last year, mum and I went to view the black bat flower at the botanical gardens. Mum loves the bat flowers. I’m kinda nonchalant, but really enjoy exploring the conservatory. It’s brilliant for black and white photography.

This time, we went to visit the white bat flower. Unfortunately, we visited towards the end of it’s flowering and it wasn’t looking the best.

Mum and I were gushing over the plant when this woman told us that there was a green one nearby. She was so lovely, showed us her photos and helped us find it. We also found what looks like bananas.

[Read more…] about Bat Flowers At Geelong Botanical Gardens

Filed Under: Geelong And Surrounds

St Helens Boat Ramp at Night: March 31

April 1, 2023 by Jade Craven

[Read more…] about St Helens Boat Ramp at Night: March 31

Filed Under: Geelong And Surrounds

More Critters From St Helens Boat Ramp

March 13, 2023 by Jade Craven

Botrylloides violaceus

These are the other photos I took on my first visit to St Helens with the Olympus TG 6.

I also didn’t realize that botryllus and botrylloides are two different genus until the above ascidian was identified. Marine life identification definitely surpasses all my other interests in terms of difficulty – and confusion!

[Read more…] about More Critters From St Helens Boat Ramp

Filed Under: Geelong And Surrounds

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 13
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Accidental Spore Print SUCCESS!
  • Nereididae Species at St Helens Boat Ramp
  • St Helens Boat Ramp at Night: April 13
  • Bat Flowers At Geelong Botanical Gardens
  • St Helens Boat Ramp at Night: March 31

Categories

  • Apollo Bay
  • Barwon River, Geelong
  • Bellarine Peninsula
  • Big Things
  • Brisbane Ranges
  • Chiltern
  • Eastern Beach
  • Geelong And Surrounds
  • Gold Coast
  • Goldfields
  • Great Ocean Road
  • Melbourne
  • My Backyard
  • Other
  • Otways
  • Port Phillip Bay
  • Shipwreck Coast
  • Surf Coast
  • Tasmania
  • The Property
  • Toolangi
  • Uncategorized
  • West Melbourne

Copyright © 2023 · Parallax Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in