Golfingia vulgaris
Encyclopedia
Golfingia vulgaris is a marine invertebrate
belonging to the phylum
Sipuncula
, the peanut worms. It is a cylindrical, unsegmented worm
with a crown of tentacle
s around the mouth. It lives in burrows in shallow seas in various parts of the world.
s of which there are usually four but occasionally three. The introvert bears many dark brown, slightly bent hooks. These are arranged irregularly unlike the similar species Golfingia elongata where the hooks are arranged in rings. Young specimens have a crown of around 20 small, finger-like tentacles arranged in a circle around the mouth. As the worm grows the number of tentacles can increase to over 150 and they are arranged in three or more circles. The entoproct Loxosomella phascolosomata often attaches itself to the worm.
who gave it the name Sipunculus vulgaris. It is now placed in the genus
Golfingia which was created by the British zoologist E. Ray Lankester in 1885 and named to celebrate a golf
ing holiday in St Andrews
, Scotland
. The species is variable in appearance and has several synonyms
. A varying number of subspecies
are recognized.
from Greenland
and Scandinavia
south to West Africa
and also occurs in the Mediterranean Sea
, Adriatic Sea
and Red Sea
. It is found locally in the western Pacific Ocean
and there is a record from the eastern Pacific off British Columbia
. The subspecies G. v. herdmani is found in parts of the Indian Ocean
and around Australia
.
It is found in mud, sand and gravel at depths of 5-2000 m, mainly occurring in waters less than 500 m deep. There is also one record from 5,540 m down in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench
. G. v. herdmani occurs in warm, shallow water.
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
belonging to the phylum
Phylum
In biology, a phylum The term was coined by Georges Cuvier from Greek φῦλον phylon, "race, stock," related to φυλή phyle, "tribe, clan." is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division....
Sipuncula
Sipuncula
The Sipuncula or Sipunculida is a group containing 144-320 species of bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented marine worms...
, the peanut worms. It is a cylindrical, unsegmented worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
with a crown of tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...
s around the mouth. It lives in burrows in shallow seas in various parts of the world.
Description
Like other sipunculans, the body is divided into a larger rear end known as the trunk and a narrower front end known as the introvert. The trunk is cylindrical and can reach 200 mm in length but is more commonly 20-50 mm. It varies in colour from grey to white to yellow-brown. The two ends of the trunk are pigmented dark brown or black. The introvert can be retracted into the trunk by the retractor muscleMuscle
Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
s of which there are usually four but occasionally three. The introvert bears many dark brown, slightly bent hooks. These are arranged irregularly unlike the similar species Golfingia elongata where the hooks are arranged in rings. Young specimens have a crown of around 20 small, finger-like tentacles arranged in a circle around the mouth. As the worm grows the number of tentacles can increase to over 150 and they are arranged in three or more circles. The entoproct Loxosomella phascolosomata often attaches itself to the worm.
Taxonomy
It was first described in 1827 by the French zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de BlainvilleHenri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville
Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville was a French zoologist and anatomist.Blainville was born at Arques, near Dieppe. In about 1796 he went to Paris to study painting, but he ultimately devoted himself to natural history, and attracted the attention of Georges Cuvier, for whom he occasionally...
who gave it the name Sipunculus vulgaris. It is now placed in the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Golfingia which was created by the British zoologist E. Ray Lankester in 1885 and named to celebrate a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
ing holiday in St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The species is variable in appearance and has several synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
. A varying number of subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
are recognized.
Distribution and habitat
It has a widespread but patchy distribution around the world. It occurs in the eastern Atlantic OceanAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
from Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
south to West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
and also occurs in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
and Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
. It is found locally in the western Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and there is a record from the eastern Pacific off British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The subspecies G. v. herdmani is found in parts of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
and around Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
It is found in mud, sand and gravel at depths of 5-2000 m, mainly occurring in waters less than 500 m deep. There is also one record from 5,540 m down in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench
Kuril-Kamchatka Trench
The Kuril–Kamchatka Trench or Kuril Trench is an oceanic trench in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka and parallels the Kuril Island chain to meet the Japan Trench east of Hokkaido...
. G. v. herdmani occurs in warm, shallow water.