Document Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Marine Science

Advisor(s)

Paul Rawson

Committee Members

Sara Lindsay, Emma Perry, Sabrina DeTurk

Graduation Year

May 2024

Publication Date

Spring 5-2024

Abstract

Blister worms are polychaete worms that live in various calcareous materials such as dead shells, red algae, limestone, and cinder blocks, along with cultured shellfish, such as oysters or sea scallops. These worms can be considered a pest due to their nature to burrow into their host’s substrate and create blisters that then fill with mud and detritus. In chapter 1, I worked closely with an oyster farm looking at the reproductive status of one species of blister worm, P. websteri, and the efficacy of cold storage as a method of ridding oysters of P. websteri. For chapter 2, I sampled various calcareous materials along shores at five “Down east” Maine locations: Lamoine Beach Park, Sipp Bay, Petit Manan, Jasper Beach, and Starboard Island to assess the distribution of shell-boring polychaete species, in a previously under sampled region. Past work in western Maine locations found three cryptic species of Polydora onagawaensis that previously had not been recognized in the state. To determine the species of worms found in the material I collected, I conducted phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (mtCO1) gene assessed via DNA isolation and PCR techniques. Based on my results to date, all of the worms sampled from the five locations were specimens that belong to two out of the three cryptic species of P. onagawaensis. I have also used morphological analyses, based on scanning electron microscopy, to confirm the species identity of the worms I sampled. In my thesis, I present the combined analyses based on both my molecular and morphological-based research.

Download

Share