Eric and I had to do some long-term surveys earlier this month and after finishing one of the surveys, Eric spotted this amazing clump of kamptozoans, also known as entoprocts. Kamptozoans are an unusual group of animals (they're in their own phylum, so not really like any other invertebrates), and because they're so small, they're not often seen.
This colony of Barentsia conferta was growing in a tidepool at the base of some red algae and coralline algae:
You're seeing lots of individual zooids, each with a crown of tentacles attached to a calyx (the cup-like portion) on a stalk, that are connected together at the base. [This species was first described by Kerstin Wasson in 1997. She gave this kamptozoan the apt species name "conferta," which means "densely packed."]
Kamptozoans are sometimes called "nodding heads" because of the interesting motion within a colony. And that's the best part of tonight's post. Eric finally (it's been a long-time goal of his) captured some excellent video showing the zooids' mysterious nodding behavior (sometimes I think it looks a little more like knocking — it can happen pretty quickly, and they seem to influence each other).
Here's the video clip. And I'm not kidding — this is probably one of the best kamptozoan videos available. Enjoy! [For a larger view, click on the "Enter full screen" icon in the lower right corner. If you can't see the video player below, click on the title of this post to go directly to the web site.]
4 comments:
Very cool!
Thank you for all this great information you send us every day!
Appreciate all you do!
Thank you, gail
Fascinating! Are these visible with the naked eye?
I love opening your posts every day...and such a great diversion from political stuff! Thanks so much!
Thanks, everyone! Fun to share such fascinating critters with you!
Re: their size. They are visible to the naked eye if you're looking closely. For example, each zooid is less than ~1 mm across and ~2 mm tall, but the colony could be ~1.5 cm across. So, if you're down low and looking among the algae, you might see a golden cluster and then once you get used to their structure and behavior, it's possible to recognize them as kamptozoans.
There are many hydroids and bryozoans that might look similar, so confirming that they're kamptozoans takes a little practice, but it's doable.
Kamptozoans are uncommon and are often hidden, so we don't encounter them very often, but they're out there, and it's a treat to find them!
:) Jackie
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