September, 1999 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 18, No. 5 
prostomium and peristomium and 2) a small 
amount of light banding on the anterior 
dorsum. Tony noted that he finds M. 
serratiseta at stations that are 80 m and deeper. 
Finally, M. sp SD 6 from San Diego Bay (15.6 
m depth) and offshore San Diego (73 m depth) 
was described by Rick and had dark staining 
stripes ventrally on only a few posterior 
thoracic setigers and an inflated posterior end. 
The next cirratulid genus up for discussion was 
Aphelochaeta. Cheryl Brantley (CSDLAC) 
passed out two provisional voucher sheets. 
The first voucher sheet was for Aphelochaeta 
sp LA 1, found off Santa Cruz Island and Santa 
Rosa Island. A question was posed as to 
whether these were A. petersenae, and Rick 
offered to examine some specimens and see if 
he could answer this question. The second 
provisional species was Aphelochaeta sp LA 2. 
Five specimens were found at station 2521 
(Santa Cruz Island) at 75 m depth. Tony 
Phillips had also reported Aphelochaeta 
specimens matching the description of A. sp 
LA 2 in samples from Santa Cruz Island station 
2515 at a depth of 102 m. There were 45 
individuals and he recorded them as 
Aphelochaeta sp HYP1. In this species the 
methyl green staining pattern revealed an 
unstained “ring” between the prostomium and 
peristomium. This ring extended around the 
entire animal at the anterior end. 
The presentation of novel Aphelochaeta 
continued as Rick outlined the description of 
Aphelochaeta sp SD 3. There were 11 
specimens collected from Santa Cruz Island at 
25 m depth. 
A discussion then ensued regarding A. 
petersenae , A. sp SD 4, and A. sp HYP 1. As 
we have been collecting and viewing more and 
more of these animals, we have been noticing 
that there are intermediate patterns in the 
methyl green staining. Rick will be examining 
more specimens with the possibility of lumping 
these provisional species. 
13 SEPTEMBER MEETING 
The meeting was called to order by President 
Ron Velarde at approximately 9:45 a.m.. The 
first order of business Ron attended to was 
distributing City of San Diego B’98 samples 
which had been selected for re-identification 
for the QA/QC aspect of the project. 
Ron then passed around a flyer from 
SCCWRP which listed upcoming seminars in 
marine related topics. The flyer is included as 
an attachment in the paper version of this 
newsletter, or to those of you who have gone 
“electronic”, please go to SCCWRP’s website 
(www.sccwrp.org ) for information on these 
seminars. 
The current issue of the Festivus, the 
Newsletter/Journal of the San Diego Shell 
Club, was passed around as it contained an 
article on the Panamic pearl oyster, Pteria 
sterna in Carlsbad lagoon. 
Megan Lilly (CSDMWWD) then brought up to 
those present the idea of having more SCAMIT 
t-shirts and hats created. It was pointed out 
that a new silkscreen would need to be made. 
We decided to see what kind of response Ann 
Dalkey receives for the few remaining items 
she has in stock. If those sell-out, then 
potentially we will look into re-newing our 
supply. 
We briefly discussed the SCAMIT website. 
Even though it’s been said previously, Jay has 
created a beautiful and functional on-line 
presence for SCAMIT, and we all owe him our 
thanks. We have recently received a series of 
new memberships on-line, most from other 
countries. An increasing percentage of website 
visits are also from other countries and it 
appears the site is now acting, in many 
instances, as an international hub for people 
searching for marine related links. If that is 
indeed the case, then we have achieved a good 
deal of our objective of engaging a broader 
audience. [ Now, if they would just write and 
submit some items to the NL...Ed.]. 
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