About Osedax frankpressi

Osedax frankpressi is a species of bathypelagic polychaete worm that lives on the seabed. It is found on the carcase of a gray whale in Monterey Canyon, off the coast of California, at a depth of 2,891 m. And it is a small worm that speedily colonises the skeleton, sending out root-like threads that force their way into the bone marrow and absorb the nutrients.[5] Inside these root structures are bacteria in the order Oceanospirillales with which the worm is in symbiosis. It is probable that the presence of these bacteria, with their ability to metabolise organic material, enables the worms to live on carcases.

Animalia (Kingdom); Annelida (Phylum); Polychaeta (Class); Sedentaria (Subclass); Canalipalpata (Infraclass); Sabellida (Order); Siboglinidae (Family); Osedax (Genus); Osedax frankpressi (Species)

Osedax frankpressi Rouse, Goffredi & Vrijenhoek, 2004

(Rouse et al., 2004)

Holotype, emergent body in gelatinous hemispherical tube, 7-mm diameter. Contracted crown plumes 0.95 cm long. Oviduct filled with ellipsoid eggs, Oviduct convoluted upon contraction, extending between palps, 3 mm from trunk. Palps red with two longitudinal white stripes in living worms; pinnules on inner margins. Trunk 4.5 mm long, 0.9 mm wide, and marked by white thickened tissue at anterior. Green, bacteriocyte-filled sheath forms trunk-ovisac junction 1.2 mm long, 1 mm wide. Lobulate ovisac, 6.5 mm by 5 mm by 3 mm. Ovisac and roots inflated with clear fluid in situ in bone; fluid lost on extraction. Allotypes, 0.15- to 0.25-mm-long males. Chaetae with hooks and handles 15 to 21 μm. Capitium with five teeth; no subrostral teeth.

In honor of Dr. Frank Press, former U.S. presidential science advisor, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and chair of the MBARI Board of Directors, for his distinguished service to science

Monterey Bay, California, Tiburon dive T610, 36°36.8'N, 122°26.0'W, 2891 m