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Morphological allometry and life history including reproductive swarming of nereidid polychaete Tylorrhynchus osawai in a tidal river in Kyushu, Japan

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Abstract

Tylorrhynchus osawai, nereidid polychaete that is considered to support estuarine biodiversity, undergoes a unique epitokous metamorphosis for reproductive swarming. The reproductive swarming of this species has been observed in Japan for more than 100 years; however, the benthic phase of this species has not been well researched. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the morphological allometry and life history, specifically the reproductive swarming, of this species. To accomplish this, surveys were conducted to collect atokes and epitokes from a tidal river in Kyushu, Japan. A total of 1670 T. osawai specimens were collected and preserved in 80% ethanol. The body widths of these specimens were measured, while several intact specimens underwent additional measurements of body length and the number of chaetigers. The morphological allometry of this species differed between atokous and epitokous forms, indicating that its heteronereis form might be suitable for migration from a tidal river to the ocean. The survey results pertaining to the benthic phase of this species indicated that its lifespan was approximately one year or longer. In addition, the settlement, growth, and maturity of this species exhibited a degree of plasticity, potentially influenced by habitat landscapes and sediment conditions. Based on the surveys conducted on reproductive swarming, climate change could have caused the peak of reproductive swarming to shift slightly later than that of several historical observations. Our findings contribute to elucidating the ecological significance of epitokous metamorphosis in nereidid polychaetes and to conserving T. osawai populations.

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Data availability

The datasets obtained and/or analyzed by the authors’ fieldwork during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Associate Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Parts of this study were supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 22K18053. We thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for the English language editing.

Funding

The present study was partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 22K18053.

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Author notes

  1. Hinano Matsumoto and Akihiko Koyama have been equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fishery Research Laboratory, Kyushu University, 4-46-24 Tsuyazaki, Fukutsu, Fukuoka, 811-3304, Japan

    Hinano Matsumoto, Akihiko Koyama & Satoshi Shimooka

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  1. Hinano Matsumoto
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  3. Satoshi Shimooka
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Contributions

Conceptualization (HM and AK), data collection (HM, AK, and SS), sample analysis (HM and AK), original draft preparation (HM, AK, and SS), reviewing and editing (HM, AK, and SS).

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Correspondence to Akihiko Koyama.

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The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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No approval of research ethics committees was required to conduct the present study because experiments were conducted with an unregulated invertebrate species.

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Responsible Editor: O. Ramey-Balci.

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Matsumoto, H., Koyama, A. & Shimooka, S. Morphological allometry and life history including reproductive swarming of nereidid polychaete Tylorrhynchus osawai in a tidal river in Kyushu, Japan. Mar Biol 171, 102 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04423-4

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