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Update Avon Point Biology: Hydras and Peritechs
- Subject: Update Avon Point Biology: Hydras and Peritechs
- From: aa4532@lcfn.org (John Lavelle)
- Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 21:26:42 -0500
- List-Name: GLIN-Announce
- Reply-To: aa4532@lcfn.org
Below is a further update on the biology at
the reef at Avon Point. This update is concerned
with two animals the solitary hydras (the colonial
hydras will be handled at some other date)and the
colonial Peritechs. As always if anyone else is
working with these animals I would love to hear
from you.
John Lavelle
December 21, 1998
HYDRAS AND PERITECHS
As far as I know this is the first time a
quantitative study has been attempted for population
densities of both Hydras and Peritech in any of the
Great Lakes. In both cases I do not want to imply a
greater degree of accuracy than is the case. When
the rocks underside area was determined I treated
the rock by it's general shape. That is if it looked
basically like a rectangle, circle, or triangle the
area was figured as if it were that shape. Also I rounded
the rock sizes to the nearest centimeter. In some
cases in 1993 and 1994 I did not make actual counts
of the animals only an area of the rock and had to
extrapolate the total from this.
Hydras
From the general characteristics of the animals
I think that these are Hydra americanus (but I could
be wrong). The following tables shows the Hydras
population peaking in June of every year. In 1993
and 1995 there was a smaller population increase
in October (1993) or September (1995). Every year the
density of the Hydras has been decreasing. A shot
at speculation would be that the hydras are decreasing
because of the decreasing numbers of crustaceans.
Average monthly population density for hydras.
The numbers are the average number of hydras per square cm.
The rock under surface area is only the area of the rocks
taken into account, not included are the rocks sides which
may also have a large population of hydras. The hydra were
only rarely found on the rocks upper surfaces. The figures
were derived from about sixteen samples per month (far fewer
samples were taken in the months of April and Nov.).
HYDRAS PER SQUARE CM.
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
April 0 0
May 0.078 0.0007 0.0016 0 0 0
June 0.203 0.2318 0.4069 0.134 0.067 0.158
July 0.281 0.1123 0.1393 0.093 0.051 0.008
Aug * 0 0.0091 0.007 0.012 0.002
Sept * 0.0016 0.0476 0.014 0.014 0.0008
Oct 0.383 0.0034 0.0254 0.012 0.022 0.0044
Nov. 0 0.006
* for these two months the hydras were extremely rare.
Green Hydras
In the past 6 years I have only run into these animals
twice.
July 16, 1995 one animal seen. The green hydras' stalk
was 2 mm. long and the 5 tentacles were about 1/4 the length
of the stalk.
August 17, 1997. Very short tentacles about 1/4 the stalk
length.
Zoothamniums
Since these animals, the "Peritechs" are so little
known to people who are interested in the Lake's biology
I thought a brief description would be prudent to put
here. None of the following is derived from my work. All
the information except that dealing specifically with
Avon Point is from the sources listed below this introduction.
The two species Zoothamnium and Carchesium belong to
the order Peritrichida.
The Peritechs are found in a wide variety of
environments and while the Peritechs as an
order can be solitary or colonial, sessile
or mobile, stalked or free-swimming, we are
concerned here only with the colonial sessile
members of the order. The colonies of the
Zoothamnium found at the Point are palm leaved
shaped colonies between 1 and 2.5 mm. in height
and about the same size in width. Normally the
Zoothamnium are symphorionts to other benthic
animals, but here on the shale reef, the colonies,
while sometimes found on Zebra mussels, the vast
majority are attached to the underside of rocks.
Most of the species are bacteria feeders. A bell
shaped like vessel is attached to the substrate
by means of a stalk, all of the stalks are connected
together. The stalks being thus joined together are
not independently contractile, the whole colony
contracts at the same time. This not true of the
Carchesium, which is also present on the reef. The
Carchesium's stalks while they join together to
form a colony remain independent of each other
and each stalk contracts individually. The colony
expands by fission, the fission taking place in a
definite way giving the colonies of each species
a definite shape. The colonies are founded by large
bells which detach from the colony and swim away.
After swimming for several hours they attached to
the substrate and grow a stalk, beginning a new colony.
Normally the colony remains active until November
or December and then produces a resting cysts to
over-winter. Here, at Avon Point, the colonies all
but disappear in June and do not reappear until the
following Spring. The Carchesium differs from the
Zoothamnium in shape, they are not palm-leaf shaped
rather they are shaped like a funnel.
Sources
Tom Fenchel. "Ecology of Protozoa" 1987
(Brock/Springer series in contemporary bioscience)
Science Tech. Inc. Madison Wisconsin. Page 6
Parker, Sally "Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms".
Page 628 - Subclass - Peritricha
Libbie Hyman " The Invertebrates" ; Protozoa through
Ctenophora". 1940
McGraw-Hill New York
V.A. Dogiel " General Protozoology"
2nd Edition 1965
The Clarendon Press Oxford (Pages 285,278-80,464,471)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ZOOTHAMNIUMS PER SQUARE CM. ON ROCKS
UNDERSIDES
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
April + 0.09
May 1.41 0.12 0.28 0.955 0.45
June 0.03 1.3* 1.42 1.62 0.004
July 0 0 0.09 0.049 0.02
Aug 0 0 0.08 0.445 0.042
Sept 0 0 0.03 0.204 0.064
Oct 0 0 0 0.218 0.045
Nov 0 0 0 0
+ The Zoothamnium were found abundantly in this month
but, regretfully I didn't count the entire number of
colonies found on the rocks. Instead I took samples
of using of a area of the the rocks underside. This
was a mistake in hindsight (but than how was I to know
I was going to keep doing this for four years).
The notes do tell that rocks were found with 11
zoothamnium per roughly an area of 30 mm.sq. at their
densest and 2 zoothamnium per 30 mm. sq. elsewhere on
the rocks.
* The Peritechs were only found on two rocks in June.
The following table lists all the rocks sampled
for the month. The second rock of June 1st had an
extraordinary number of colonies but after that
date not a single colony was seen.
Below is an example of how the Zoothamniums abruptly
disappear from the Lake's bottom and it also shows how
the colonies are not uniformly found on the rocks. These
colonies some to have a preference for certain rocks.
What it is they prefer I have no idea.
Area Number
Sq.cm of colonies
June 1 48 51
110 1460
June 7 99 0
44 0
40 0
June 11 70 0
153 0
Jun14 112 0
54 0
40 0
June 18 85 0
June21 88 0
30 0
June25 48 0
77 0
June 28 84 0
Because the data collected for 1992 and 1993 was not
consistent in form I can not breakdown the number of colonies
found per square cm. But it is important to note the changes
that have occurred in their population densities over the
years. To that end I put the summariares covering those years
below. I've also included notes on 1994 as this year had
a period when the Carachism colonies were found in great
numbers.
1992
In 1992 the colonies abruptly disappeared from the
samples on June 7. On May 31 a rock sample had its entire
underside covered by colonies at a density of 40 colonies
per sq.cm. On the sample taken on June 7 and those taken
after this date no colonies were seen until August 2 and
than they were widely scattered and rare. The colonies were
occassionally found attached to free floating algae and
unattached drifting alone. As stated above the colonies
were able to fold up within one second and 10 seconds
was the time needed to re-extend itself. The colonies
were between 1 and 2 mm. high, and about the same size in
width. The Zoothamnium behaved in one way differently in
May of 1992 then the colonies found in 1993/1994. These
May colonies did not respond to touch by folding up.
On May 10 a large field of zoos having a density of
30 stalks per sq. cm had the colonies within the field
folding up apparently at random. A colony would snap shut
while those all around it remained opened. This lack of
response to stimuli is strikingly seen from another rock
taken from a depth of 12 feet. The bottom of this rock had
a Zoothamnium field with a density of 60 stalks per sq. cm.
Amid the colonies were several brown hydras, one hydra moved
into the dense field of zoos. There was no response by the
colonies to the hydra moving among them, they did not close
up when touched by the hydra, and those that were closed
opened even with the hydra right over them.
1993
From the first sample, taken May 9, the Zoothamnium
responded to touch by snapping shut. The colonies did not
come close to consistently reaching the population density
found in 1992. The greatest density found in 1993 was 25
colonies per sq. cm, the normal density on the rocks sampled
that had Zoothamnium fields was more like between 10 and 15
colonies per sq. cm. Unlike the year before, in 1993 the
colonies did not abruptly disappear, rather they slowly
decreased in numbers. While decreasing in numbers though
they did manage to stick around for a lot longer time,
their density on June 26 was 20 colonies in a 7 cm. sq. area.
The colonies disappeared from the samples after June 30.
Carachism were more abundant in 1993 then 1992. In 1992 the
Carachism were rarely found and when found the colonies were
widely scattered. 1993 the Carachism colonies were not only
more common but they too were found in fields, the densest
cluster seen was 13 colonies in a 1.5 cm. sq. area.
1994
The year could be considered the year of the Carachism.
In 1992 and 1993 the Carachism were generally found widely
scattered. In 1994 they were, for a brief period, the dominant
organism on the reef. Whether this high population was due to
the sampling being done earlier and the Carachism is normally
at such levels in the early Spring or some new condition in the
Lake's environment caused their high density is unknown.