Notes on the Life-History of the Polychaete, Dodecaceria fewkesi (nom. n.)

Abstract

Dodecaceria fewkesi (Fewkes) is a new name for the cirratulid polychaete formerly known as D. pacifica. It builds colonies of calcareous tubes on rock faces in suitable localities on the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island between tide-marks. A sexual reproduction by autotomy followed by regeneration is common and colonies seem to result from a single individual by a repeated operation of this process. Individuals in a given colony are invariably of one sex. Fertile eggs could not be obtained either by mixing ripe oocytes and sperms or by adding sperms to water containing female colonies. They did result from keeping male and female colonies together, provided the colonies had been recently removed from their natural habitat. The early stages of development are described and figured.