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Figure 41. — Distribution and abundance of Spiophanes bombyx in the New 

 York Bight apex. 



Figure 42. — Distribution and abundance of Paraonis gracilis in the New York 

 Bight apex. 



tunistic as well, showing substantial post-anoxic increases in popu- 

 lation, possibly due to its capacity for rapid recolonization and its 

 anoxia and sulfide tolerance. 



Paraonis gracilis (Tauber, 1879) 



DESCRIPTION: Motile burrowers; body threadlike, length to 

 25 mm, width to 0.5 mm. segments to 100 (Pettibone 1963). 



DISTRIBUTION: Cosmopolitan (Day 1967). 



HABITAT: 5.4-2.002 m. Collected on bottoms of soft and sticky 

 mud. muddy sand, mud with stones, gravel, and tubes (Pettibone 

 1963). In the New York Bight apex. Paraonis gracilis was almost 

 always associated with fine sandy or silty sediments with high 

 organic content (Fig. 42: Table 1). 



FEEDING ECOLOGY: Paraonids burrow just below the sedi- 

 ment surface and are classified as nonselective deposit feeders 

 (Dales 1963: Day 1967: Gosner 1971). 



REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH: In August, in Maine. Pet- 

 tibone ( 1963) has observed females of this species with large yolky. 

 coral-pink eggs, about two per segment dorsally. and males with 

 white sperm masses. 



Aricidea catherinae (Laubier, 1967) 



[Aricidea jeffreysii (Mcintosh, 1879)] 



DESCRIPTION: Motile burrowers; length to 20 mm. width to 

 1.5 mm, segments to 120 (Pettibone 1963). 



DISTRIBUTION: Ireland. Denmark. Mediterranean, Davis 

 Strait to Delaware. North Carolina. Florida, western Canada (Gulf 

 of Georgia) (Pettibone 1963: Day 1967). 



HABITAT: Collected on bottoms of coarse to fine sand, sticky 

 and soft mud, ooze, muddy sand, sand or mud with gravel, shells or 

 tubes; 1.8 to 1,908 m depths (Pettibone 1963). On Georges Bank, 

 Aricidea catherinae was abundant in coarse sand (Maurer and 

 Leathern 1980). Aricidea catherinae was found in all sandy sedi- 

 ment types in the New York Bight apex, but was rare or absent in 

 silt. They were uncommon in the highest organic areas, and were 

 present in highest concentrations in low organic coarse sands (Fig. 

 43; Table 1). Conversely, in Delaware Bay. Kinner and Maurer 

 (1978) found this species to be negatively correlated with an 

 increase in grain size of sediments. 



FEEDING ECOLOGY: The Paraonidae possess a simple pro- 

 boscis for digging. They burrow just below the sediment surface 



30 



