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Historical review and contribution to the knowledge of Amythas membranifera (Ampharetidae): an integrative perspective of an Antarctic polychaete

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Abstract

Amythas membranifera was originally described through a single and incomplete specimen found in Commonwealth Bay, Adélie Land, Antarctica, at ~ 600 m depth. The species occurs exclusively in Antarctic waters and has a great ecological and biological value to benthic dynamics in some Antarctic areas. We collected several specimens of A. membranifera at Marian Cove, Maxwell Bay (King George Island) during a cruise of the project “CHAnges in Coastal Marine Systems of the Antarctic Peninsula: a 2050 Outlook (CHAMP2050)”. We present here a detailed study of A. membranifera from new specimens collected during this cruise, including morphological redescription, morphometry, molecular biology studies and aspects of their distribution, reproduction and feeding. A. membranifera specimens present an intraovarian oogenesis with blood vessel association for yolk precursor transference, with mature oocytes with 180–260 µm in diameter. Our data may suggest a broadcast spawner strategy. The spermiogenesis follows with the maturation of spermatids in spermatozoids in smaller clusters of cells and stored freely in the coelom prior to spawn ect-aquasperms. Finally, we point that one of the most intriguing aspects to date is its distribution, since most recent records were made in the West Antarctic Peninsula region while few records were made in the region of the original description (East Antarctic). This is our contribution to the knowledge of this species encompassing different scientific topics in a integrative perspective.

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Adapted from Kim et al. (2021)

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All data used in this study are included within this paper and they can be available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Angelika Brandt, Dr Alexandra Kerbl, Dr Mariam Duncker, Dr Maria Cristina Gambi, Dr Julio Parapar Vegas and Dr Eduardo Lopéz Garcia for their kind help to send details about Amythas membranifera sampling.

Funding

This work was conducted as part of a KOPRI project entitled “CHAnges in Coastal Marine Systems of the Antarctic Peninsula: a 2050 Outlook (CHAMP2050)” and supported by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries through Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea (Grant No PE18070, PE19070and PE22110). Laboratory analyses were conducted at the “Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Mar Profundo” (LAMP/IOUSP) with support of the project “BEnthic COnnections Of high southern Latitudes (BECOOL)” (CNPq 442718/2018-7 and FAPESP 2019/12551-8).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Mar Profundo (LAMP), Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, Pça do Oceanográfico, 191, São Paulo, SP, 05508-120, Brazil

    Orlemir Carrerette, Gilberto Bergamo & Paulo Y. G. Sumida

  2. Coleção Biológica Prof. Edmundo F. Nonato (ColBIO), Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 05508-900, Brazil

    Mônica A. V. Petti & Sandra Bromberg

  3. Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), 26 Songdomirae-ro, Incheon, 21990, Republic of Korea

    Dong-U. Kim & In-Young Ahn

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  1. Orlemir Carrerette
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Contributions

OC conceived the study, OC, MAVP, PYGS wrote the manuscript, and MAVP, DUK, SB, IYA conducted feld, and OC, GB, SB the lab work. All authors effectively contributed to the interpretation of the findings and revision and editing of the final draft of the article.

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Correspondence to Orlemir Carrerette.

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Carrerette, O., Petti, M.A.V., Kim, DU. et al. Historical review and contribution to the knowledge of Amythas membranifera (Ampharetidae): an integrative perspective of an Antarctic polychaete. Polar Biol 46, 1287–1305 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-023-03202-z

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