Presenter: Shannon Brown
Faculty Mentor: Richard Emlet, Kelly Sutherland
Presentation Type: Poster 49
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Marine Biology
The annelid feather duster worm, Schizobranchia insignis, is a prevalent marine invertebrate found along the coastlines of the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. The regenerative ability of feather duster worms is frequently studied as a model for regeneration because the annelid phylum demonstrates a pronounced array of regeneration processes. The main purpose of my study is to examine the regeneration of a single radiole in S. insignis. Previous studies have examined the regeneration of the entire posterior and anterior region of the worm; however, limited information is available on radioles, the anterior appendages used for feeding and respiration. By cutting S. insignis radioles and observing resulting regeneration, I was able to categorize the regeneration into 12 distinctive stages with detailed descriptions of the external and internal structures that developed during each stage. In addition, to support potential regenerative conclusions, I performed an overall survey of the feather duster worm’s branchial crown and found that there is a non-significant positive linear relationship between the number of radioles and the weight of the S. insignis. Although a full analysis of the data has not been completed, I expect that the information collected for this study will provide additional knowledge to the currently limited regeneration field.