Polydora (annelid)


Polydora is a genus of annelid worms. It contains marine polychaete species that live in mud, holes bored in rocks, and holes bored in the shells of shellfish.
Some shell- and rock-boring polydora worms leave a characteristic double hole in the rock and shells in which they burrow.

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek Πολυδωρη, from Polydora, daughter of Tethys and Ocean in Greek mythology.

Economic effects

Polydora species are a major economic issue for parts of the shellfish industry. Some species cause "mudblister" on oysters, living inside the oyster shell and roughening its interior surface. Although this makes the oyster grow much more slowly, and makes the shell ugly and harder to sell, the meat of the oyster is still fit to eat.
In Australia, the Native flat or mud oyster, Ostrea angasi, became locally extinct, in estuaries on the East Coast north of the Clyde River, as a result of the accidental introduction of the mud worm, Polydora websteri, with Saccostrea glomareata spat from New Zealand, from 1888 to 1898.

List of ''Polydora'' species

Polydora aciculataPolydora aggregataPolydora anoculataPolydora armata Langerhans, 1880Polydora barbillaPolydora bioccipitalisPolydora blakeiPolydora brachycephalaPolydora caecaPolydora cardaliaPolydora caulleryiPolydora ciliataPolydora cirrosaPolydora colonia MoorePolydora commensalis AndrewsPolydora concharumPolydora convexaPolydora cornuta Bosc, 1802Polydora elegantissimaPolydora flava Claparede, 1870Polydora giardiPolydora glycymerica Radashevsky, 1993Polydora gracilisPolydora hartmanaePolydora haswelliPolydora hermaphroditica Hannerz, 1956Polydora heterochaetaPolydora hoplura Claparede, 1870Polydora kaneohe Ward, 1981Polydora latispinosaPolydora ligni WebsterPolydora limicolaPolydora magnaPolydora naricaPolydora neocardaliaPolydora notialisPolydora nuchalisPolydora pilikia Ward, 1981Polydora pilocollarisPolydora posthamata Jones, 1962Polydora protuberataPolydora pygidialisPolydora quadrilobata JacobiPolydora socialis Polydora spongicolaPolydora tentaculataPolydora tetrabranchiaPolydora tridenticulata Woodwick, 1964Polydora websteri Hartman, 1943
  • ''Polydora woodwicki''