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JPR Advance Access originally published online on December 16, 2004
Journal of Plankton Research 2005 27(2):221-225; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh163
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Journal of Plankton Research Vol. 27 No. 2 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Calispadella alata n. gen., n. sp., the first chaetognath recorded from a hydrothermal vent site (Mid-Atlantic Ridge)

Jean-Paul Casanova and Xavier Moreau*

E.R. ‘Biodiversite et Environnement’, Laboratoire de Biologie Animale (PLANCTON), Case 18, Université de Provence, 3 Place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France

* Corresponding Author: xavier.moreau{at}up.univ-mrs.fr

Received July 8, 2004; accepted in principle August 11, 2004; accepted for publication November 11, 2004; published online December 16, 2004

Calispadella alata n. gen., n. sp., is the first chaetognath described from a hydrothermal vent field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, depth ~1600 m). It belongs to the family Spadellidae (presence of transverse muscles in trunk and long tail segment). There is a pair of lateral fins making no contact with the body posteriorly; these free wing-like extensions end in festoons provided distally with patches of adhesive cells. This unique feature in a deep bentho-planktonic species can be seen as an adaptation to adhere at times to the substrate to resist local turbulences produced by the hydrothermal fluids. This may also indicate that this new genus is phylogenetically close to the neritic genus Paraspadella, which has adhesive finger-like processes. Calispadella alata is sexually precocious as reported for other deep chaetognaths, contrary to most deep living organisms which exhibit delayed sexual maturity. This feature might be a means to increase the possibility of mating in scarce populations.


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