(No common name)

ORDER

Basibranchia

FAMILY

Lamellibrachiidae

TAXONOMY

Lamellibrachia luymesi van der Land and Norrevang, 1977, Guyana Shelf.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Body reaches 1.6 ft (0.5 m) in length, with tubes to 6.5 ft (2 m) in length. Plume dark red with ivory obturacula.

DISTRIBUTION

Off Guyana, Gulf of Mexico.

HABITAT

Found at depths of 0.3–0.6 mi (0.5–1 km); associated with cold seeps.

BEHAVIOR

Forms dense thickets on silty sediments where cold seeps occur. Presumably, one or more animals attach to a stone or piece of rock and gradually the tubes of the worms provide settling places for other worms. This allows for the large discrete thickets to form. Otherwise, little is known.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Symbiotic bacteria in trophosome provide nutrition for worm. Host provides bacteria with sulfide via its plume and carbon dioxide as a byproduct of its own respiration. Cold seeps provide a stable supply of sulfide over centuries. Worms found in this environment grow very slowly and adults may be 100 or more years old.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Separate sexes, with males spawning into the water and females releasing eggs after fertilizing them. Eggs 0.0039 in (0.1 mm) in diameter and larvae can disperse for several weeks without the need to feed.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.