Studies of Hydrozoa

The first weeks of July have been dedicated to the collections of Hydrozoa. Although the species that is presently known as Sarsia tubulosa has been almost a totem animal to marine biologists in Bergen since Michael Sars’ pioneering studies of cnidarians and other invertebrates on the Bergen coast, this taxonomically complex group has received relatively limited attention from local students.
We are very pleased therefore that Professor Francesco Ramil Blanco and his PhD-student Marta Gil from the University of Vigo are taking the time to examine some of our material of benthic hydrozoans. Benthic hydrozoans are sitting on various forms of substrate like sand, stones or dead shells. But many are also epibionts, which means that they are attached to other organisms such as algae, crustaceans or even other hydrozoans.

Front end of a Hyas crab carrying Hydrozoa and other organisms.

The alternation of generations between polyp and medusa stages, one of M.Sars’ discoveries, is just one of the reasons why these small cnidarians, the more inclusive group that the hydrozoans belong to, have been taxonomically challenging. There are many examples of such different life history stages having been described over time as different species. But there are also other reasons as to why hydrozoans should be studied more thoroughly. Access to new material, better microscopes and molecular techniques are giving researchers new possibilities to assess the diversity of these strange animals.

Specimens of Hydrozoa are mounted in resinous medium for microscopy.

Slides for microscopy

Streptocaulus dollfusi – microscopy picture of part of a colony from West Africa identified by Ramil and Gil.

Team work in an enlarged micro-world

New Master thesis: studies of Diopatra polychaetes

Ongoing studies of the polychaete worms collected by « R/V Dr Fridtjof Nansen» cruises are revealing a great diversity of species including many that are also completely new to science. This observation is demonstrated in a recently completed master thesis presented by Mr Martin M. Hektoen for the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at University of Bergen.

Mr. Hektoen decided to to respond to our announcement in 2013 of a master project and studied the genus Diopatra in the GCLME and CCLME regions supervised by Dr. Nataliya Budaeva.

Nataliya Budaeva and Martin M. Hektoen

He presented his work in public before the examination commission on June 26^th. The thesis is begun with an opening quote from H. Hemsworth Day (1960) reading: “ … the question as to whether there is one species of Diopatra or several species is a matter of controversy.”

Hektoen’s resolution to what may now seem more as a deceased controversy is a paper recognizing nine new species of Diopatra from the East Atlantic. The studies are based on detailed morphological studies, – microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy, and supplemented by DNA-sequencing of mitochondrial genes. Laborious descriptions, identification keys, and a phylogenetic analysis are some of the important elements of the thesis contents.

Adjudication of the work was performed by polychaete specialist Dr Eivind Oug from the Norwegian Institute of Water Research, Grimstad, and Prof. Anders Hobæk from the Department of Biology at UiB. We extend our congratulations to Martin for his comprehensive work and fine work, and are looking forward to see the results in a peer reviewed publication in the near future. Cheers, Martin!

Available DNA barcodes to gastropods

Our joint efforts in producing DNA barcodes for West African gastropods have been moderately successful with sequences generated for about 55 % of the species.

Data for successful as well as failed specimens are available on this page.

A pop-up window is displayed by clicking on the blue markers. In this example, there is a BARCODED specimen of Nassarius atlantideus. Notice the processID, MIWAM050-13, which can be used to access the specimen in the BOLD database.

Open BOLD in your web browser. Select “Databases from the top menu. Type the processID in the search field and it will bring you to the species information page,

Starstruck

Following the workshop on the brittle stars – the Ophiuroidea – that we arranged earlier this fall, we have a lot of samples that have been selected for DNA barcoding. These are in the pipeline for photographing, and the photographer is currently seeing stars…

Below is a sample of the animals, each animal is photographed twice; dorsal and ventral view.

Brittle stars en masse – we plan on filling two plates this time around, so in total there will be 380 photograps.

Twinkle, twinkle, brittle star. How I wonder what you are –

The brittle stars are a fascinating group of animals with about 2000 known species. Quite a few species have been identified from the MIWA material and we are trying to compare the African shelf fauna with that of the northern Atlantic. Initial DNA-barcoding has returned some puzzling results and we needed another look on some of the problematic individuals. Fortunately, two researchers with very special knowledge of the brittle stars were able to join us in an identification workshop during the last week of November.
Øyidis Alme did her master study on brittle stars and she was joined by Sabine Stöhr from the Natural History Museum of Stockholm for a three days session over the microscopes. Sabine is a respected specialist on the brittle stars and maintains The World Ophiuroidea Database:

http://www.marinespecies.org/ophiuroidea/index.php

JRS biodiversity informatics

Our sponsor, the JRS Biodiversity Foundation, is supporting great courses in biodiversity informatics. See previous courses here and watch out for upcoming events in 2015: http://biodiversity-informatics-training.org/

Presentation at the 8th International Crustacean Congress (ICC-8)

Almost 300 researchers from many nations were convened last week at the beautiful Campus Westend of the Goethe–University in Frankfurt for the 8th International Crustacean Congress (ICC-8). Many interesting talks and high quality posters were presented over six days. A special workshop on DNA-identification and barcoding filled the auditorium to the the edge and left many attendants standing through the session. EW gave a 15 minutes talk on results from our barcoding of decapods and stomatopods. He particularly emphasized how barcoding can reveal discordant species identifications among different labs and research environments and pinpoint the need for reidentification and / or taxonomic revision of species. Copy of GoetheUnivFrankfurt ICC-8_presentation

The Casino building of the Goethe University

Unravelling the diversity of Bivalve Molluscs of Western Africa

Tellina (Oudardia) compressa

Venus verrucosa

The study of the marine invertebrates of West Africa collected during the “Nansen Project” goes on and this year a second workshop was organized with a focus on the taxonomy of bivalves. Nine days of seclusion in our marine station at Espegrend on the surroundings of the city of Bergen allowed for the necessary tranquility to concentrate in the laborious work of sorting through and identifying thousands of specimens collected between Morocco and Angola by the Norwegian research vessel Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.

Abra alba

This year the “Molluscan” team was strengthen with two extra players; Sara Castillo, a PhD student from Spain enrolled at the University of Vigo and working on the marine fauna of Mauritania and Rudo von Cosel from the Paris Museum of Natural History a recognized authority on the taxonomy of bivalve molluscs.

Aequipecten flabellum

Atrina chautardi

Corbula cadenati

During last year workshop we have implemented a successful “conveyor-belt operation” where each of us was responsible for a specific task (identification, labelling, databasing, imaging, barcoding, etc.). The samples were first organized by morphotypes and then passed into the hands and eyes of our taxonomic experts; a new label with a museum voucher number, species name, locality, etc., was added, and the samples were then databased, photographed, and some selected for DNA barcoding. In parallel several invited participants received training in the various technical and scientific aspects of this operation.

Cuspidaria cuspidata

Falsolucinoma leloeuffi

This year we have again implemented the same successful strategy; Lena Ohnheiser (University Museum of Bergen) was responsible for the database, labelling, and “in between” automontage imaging, Rudo von Cosel, José Pedro Borges (Portuguese Institute of Malacology), Kouakou Kouadio (University of Nangui Abrogoua, Côte d’Ivoire), Sidi Moctar (Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches), and Sara Castillo for the taxonomic identification, and the author of these lines was the responsible for general imaging of the specimens and overall coordination of the team-work. In parallel Trond Oskars (a PhD student at the University Museum of Bergen) and Endre Willassen (PI of the Marine Invertebrates of Western Africa project) have worked on the preparation of 95 samples for DNA barcoding.

Gari fervensis

Laevicardium senegalensis

Noetiella congoensis

Our colleague Rudo von Cosel has been working for more than 10 years on a comprehensive book about the bivalves from tropical western Africa.

Rudo brought the proofs of his book to the workshop and we can proudly claim to have been the first ones to have ever seen his book assembled! The species illustrations and descriptions were bind together by families and used as identification tools during the workshop. At the end of the week we have databased over 800 lots and identified approximately 125 species. It was very rewarding to realize that our joint effort rendered many new geographical records contributing to better understand the distribution of species and biogeographic processes along the coast of West Africa.

We are very thankful to all participants in the workshop; to all those mentioned along these lines and those who were not but were nonetheless crucial for the success of this very productive week helping with various technical and logistic aspects, contributing to the good atmosphere, and very important keeping everybody “bellies” happy with great demonstrations of cuisine masterskills!

Sinupharus bernardi

-Manuel

The workshop has ended

It’s been a busy, productive and fun week – thank you so much to all our participants for the hard work they’ve done and the good cheer they brought!

Stay tuned for updates on results and continued work – though the workshop has finished, work is only just beginning!

Participant snapshots – Sara

Name: Sara Castillo Oñate

Home institution: University of Vigo (Spain) and Spanish Institute of Oceanography

What do you work with at home?

I’m preparing a paper about composition and distribution of macrobenthos from Mauritanian deepwaters, based on samples collected with Agassiz trawl between 150 and 1600m.

I’m also working on mollusc identification (except cephalopods) from CCLME region.

Sara and Lena on board the “Aurelia”

What are you working on here?

I am part of the “Team Mollusca” helping the expert on bivalves Rudo von Cosel and learning a lot about the identification of this group. I’m also separating the mixed mollusc samples to morpho-specie level. This is my first workshop and I’m really happy for the experience.