January, 2000 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 18, No.9 
collection but the correctness of the ID is 
pending as the animal seemed to fall 
somewhere between A. undata and A. 
versicolor. 
After lunch Dean Pasko (CSDMWWD) was 
ready to dive into problems with Crustacea. 
The first animal brought forth was a small 
ostracod from a B’98 Channel Islands station 
(2476,11 meters of water). The carapace was 
oblong (i.e., broadly oval), with a broad 
rostrum with a large, straight ventral shelf, and 
noticeable surface pitting. It was without a 
caudal extension or surface ridges. Based on 
general appearance the specimen belonged in 
Philomedidae. The anterior and ventral margins 
of the carapace were crenulate with blunt/ 
squared edges (“U” vs “V”), while the dorsal 
and posterior margins were smooth. The caudal 
furca had 2L-2s- It - 3s - It claws (where t = 
thick and small). The first claw was the 
largest, the second about two-thirds of the first 
and the other two thickened claws about 1/4 - 
l/5th of the largest. The two small, thick 
claws were also displaced medially; 
alternatively, you could say the sets of small 
claws were displaced laterally. The caudal 
furca was large, robust and rectangular in 
profile with a pyramidal lateral face (i.e., the 
four sides sloped outward from a centrally 
located high point). The animal was not 
recognized by anyone present and its identity 
remains undetermined (see cover photo). 
Jack Word’s key (a NAMIT handout) was used 
to key out a Harbansus mayeri. The animal 
was collected at a B’98 Channel Island station 
(2480) in 106 meters of water. Dean will 
compare the animal to the full description to 
verify his ID. This is not an animal known to 
occur this far south. Should the identity be 
confirmed, this is an considerable southern 
range extension. 
Next, a small hermit crab proved to be a 
problem. The animal was approximately 4mm 
in size but had eggs, indicating maturity. 
Haig’s 1990 key was used, but to no avail. The 
specimen keyed to Pagurus setosus but both 
Dean and Don felt that it was not setosus for 
various morphological reasons. The crab was 
collected in 112 meters of water from B’98 
station 2815. For the time being the 
identification was left at Pagurus sp. 
Lastly we turned our attention to Sipuncula. 
Dean showed us a specimen from B’98 station 
2480 (106 m). The animal had one large pair 
of retractors which appeared more fused and 
larger, proportionately than those in 
Thysanocardia. The animal also lacked 
microvilli on the intestine, and the anus was 
located far anterior on the body, just above the 
nephridia. It was left as a provisional species, 
Sipuncula sp SD2, for the time being. 
TEREBELLID PARASITES 
Tom Parker (CSDLAC) forwarded comments 
posted to the Annelida Listserver. They were 
provided originally in response to a query on 
Annelida by Aaron Baldwin. The e-mail reply 
was later posted by him to the Annelida 
Listserver for the edification of us all. We 
reprint this reply here, as it will undoubtedly 
interest members who have observed odd 
things attached to their own terebellids: 
“Your query regarding the terebellid parasites 
was passed on to me by a colleague who 
subscribes to the Annelida list. I am not a 
member of the Annelida List and do not know 
how to post a reply so I thought I would e-mail 
you directly. (Feel free to post my comments if 
you wish) 
“I am a pollution monitoring biologist with 
about 20 years experience on benthos in UK 
waters. For 12 years I have been collecting 
copepod parasites mostly of polychaetes, 
crustaceans, and molluscs. I published a brief 
hand guide to Polychaete parasites of UK 
waters a few years ago plus a few other articles 
since on polychaete parasites (O’Reilly, 
1991,1995a,1995b,1999). From your brief 
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