Seahorse-chasing citizen scientists spot worm not seen since the 1950s

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-11-13 11:01

International

Photo by squiresk on iNaturalist, CC-BY-4.0

An elusive marine worm not recorded by scientists since the 1950s is actually widespread in the central Indo-Pacific, according to international researchers who spotted evidence of the species in the background of citizen scientists' photos. Haplosyllis anthogorgicola is a worm that lives hidden in burrows on gorgonian corals and hasn't been recorded by scientists since it was found in 1956 in Southern Japan. These corals are also home to the pygmy seahorse, a popular species for scuba diving citizen scientists to track down and photograph. By combing through pygmy seahorse photos on citizen science website iNaturalist, the researchers say evidence of the presence of Haplosyllis anthogorgicola and/or similar species was visible in about three in four pictures they viewed, indicating this worm, while hard to spot, is actually quite common.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

The Trojan Seahorse: Citizen science pictures of a seahorse harbour insights into the distribution and behaviour of a long-overlooked polychaete worm

Symbiotic organisms are overlooked due to being small or living inside their hosts. This is the case of Haplosyllis anthogorgicola, a marine worm that lives hidden in burrows on gorgonian corals. When finding this worm on Anthogorgiidae corals, we noticed another symbiont, the pygmy seahorse, a popular species due to its small size and camouflage. Therefore, divers frequently share detailed, close-up pictures of the small seahorse on the iNaturalist citizen science website. Upon examining those photographs, worms and their burrows were visible in the background, revealing that, despite being unrecorded since its description in 1956, the worm is actually widespread. Hence, the charismatic seahorse secretly carried information on the lifestyle of this overlooked and unique worm.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: Proceeding of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of the Ryukyus, Japan

Funder: C.J.L.F. and J.A.A.L. are grateful to MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan) for university scholarships. C.J.L.F. and J.D.R. are grateful for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) International B research scheme project, awarded to J.D.R., entitled 'Marine environmental DNA metabarcoding: understanding oceanic islands and mainland sites across anthropogenic gradients in two hemispheres' (grant no. 20KK0164) for funding the field trip to Kochi, Japan.

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