Symsagittifera roscoffensis

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Symsagittifera roscoffensis
File:Symsagittifera roscoffensis (from Graff, 1891).png
Original painting by Ludwig von Graff
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Acoelomorpha
Class:
Acoela
Order:
Acoela
Family:
Sagittiferidae
Genus:
Symsagittifera
Species:
S. roscoffensis
Binomial name
Symsagittifera roscoffensis
(Graff, 1891)
Synonyms

Convoluta roscoffensis Graff, 1891

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Symsagittifera roscoffensis, formerly called Convoluta roscoffensis, is a free-living acoelomorph worm.

Appearance

S. roscoffensis is a small (about 15 mm long) flat worm. It assimilates the algae, Tetraselmis convolutae into its parenchymal cells, giving it a green colour.[1] For this reason, its common name in the Channel Islands is the "mint sauce worm".

Ecology and distribution

In its adult stage, the worm lives off the excesses of its symbiotic algae, although the mouth is still present posteriorly to the statocyst. The worm provides shelter and some nutritional benefits in return.

The worm can be found in shallow water on sheltered sand beaches along most of the Atlantic Coast (including the coasts of Wales, Brittany, the North of Spain and Portugal).

Name

The genus name was originally spelled Simsagittifera; Mamkaev & Kostenko corrected it in 1991 to Symsagittifera but Faubel et al. (2004) maintain that Simsagittifera should be retained.[2] The species name comes from the French town where it was described, Roscoff, in Brittany.

Significance to humans

S. roscoffensis is one of the model organisms for studying the development of bilaterians.

File:Puddle with Symsagittifera roscoffensis.png
S. roscoffensis sun-bathing in a puddle at low tide.
File:Symsagittifera roscoffensis caught in a shell.png
S. roscoffensis scooped by a shell.
S. roscoffensis (in Jersey, Channel Islands)

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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