flabelligerid polychaete Flabelligera mundata

Flabelligera mundata occurs throughout Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia Island, Bouvet Island, Falkland Islands, and New Zealand in depths from 6 to 594 meters [1,6,8]. F. mundata can be up to ten centimeters long with a width of three centimeters [1,4,6].



Here is the mouth of Flabelligera mundata.

Flabelligerid polychaetes are surface deposit feeders, collecting food particles with their palps [7].

Flabelligera mundata is light yellow to transparent and is covered with a thick, gelatinous semi-opaque sheath [1,6].

F. mundata is an example of gigantism in the Antarctic fauna [2].

Antarctic polychaetes have a much higher percentage of unique species than polychaete faunas in other parts of the world [3].



Here are the remains of Flabelligera mundata on the sea urchin Sterechinus neumayeri .

The giant Antarctic isopod Glyptonotus antarcticus is a predator of F. mundata, eating out the insides and leaving an empty body shell as shown here [5].

1: Polychaeta Myzostomidae and Sedentaria of Antarctica. O Hartman. Antarctic Research Series Volume 7. Washington DC : American Geophysical Union of the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, 1966; 2: Advances in Marine Biology 10:1-216, 1972; 3: Adaptations within Antarctic Ecosystems, Proceedings of the Third SCAR Symposium on Antarctic Biology. GA Llano, ed. Washington, DC : Smithsonian Institution, 1977. pp.1111-1127; 4: Biology of the Antarctic Seas 6(4):125-223, 1978. Antarctic Research Series Volume 26; 5: Peter Brueggeman, personal communication (observed Glyptonotus antarcticus eating F. mundata, leaving an empty sheath), 1999; 6: Marine Fauna of the Ross Sea : Polychaeta. GA Knox & DB Cameron. NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 108. Wellington, New Zealand : National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, 1998; 7: Marine Invertebrates of Southern Australia, Part 1. SA Shepherd & IM Thomas. Adelaide, South Australia: DJ Woolman Government Printer, 1982; 8: Tethys 6(3):631-653, 1974

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