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Species (common/scientific names): parchment worm, innkeeper worm/Chaetopterus ; sand worm/Polydora Discipline(s): Developmental Biology and others

Laboratory culture of the larvae of spionidan polychaetes

Steven Q. Irvine¹ and Mark Q. Martindale²

^{1, 2}Committee on Evolutionary Biology, and ²Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Current addresses: ¹Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8103 and ²Kewalo Marine Lab, PBRC/University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96813; email: mqmartin@hawaii.edu

Abstract:
The spionidan polychaetes Chaetopterus and Polydora are abundant on both coasts of North America. Using the techniques described below, they can be cultured in laboratories with or without access to natural seawater, thus providing convenient models for polychaete embryonic and larval development. Ripe adult Chaetopterus are commercially available in late spring and summer, and unfertilized gametes are easily obtained for in vitro fertilization. Polydora, on the other hand, broods its embryos within the adult tube, so larvae are most easily obtained at pelagic stages from the culture medium. Simple methods for larval culture of both species through metamorphosis are detailed. A scheme for an inexpensive, easily constructed closed culture apparatus is illustrated, along with suggestions for maintaining algal food culture.

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