Vasily I. Radashevsky

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at Russian Academy of Sciences

Previous records of Polydora species from Brazil are reviewed and new records are provided, mainly from the Southeast and South regions of the country. Eleven species have been distinguished and a key to their identification is given. Polydora cornuta, P. nuchalis and a new species from the state of Rio de Janeiro, P. nonatoi sp. nov., live in silt...

The spionid polychaete Polydora hoplura Claparède, 1868 has been widely recorded boring in shells of abalone, oysters, clams, barnacle tests and sponges in temperate and subtropical waters. Molecular studies have suggested conspecificity of individuals collected worldwide but showed high genetic variability of the species with the highest diversity...

During surveys worldwide, we collected adult and larval specimens of Pseudopolydora Czerniavsky, 1881 similar to P. achaeta Radashevsky & Hsieh, 2000 and P. rosebelae Radashevsky & Migotto, 2009 far from their type localities in Taiwan and Brazil, respectively. Analysis of sequence data of five gene fragments: mitochondrial COI and 16S rDNA, nuclea...

The Prionospio complex comprises the most diverse and complex group within the polychaete family Spionidae. The phylogenetic relationships within the group are still poorly understood, and the generic breakdown is unstable. In this study, we assessed the diversity, relationships, and distribution of species of the Prionospio complex occurring in No...

Originally described from the northern Norway, Laonice cirrata (M. Sars, 1851) has been considered cosmopolitan and widely distributed in the North Pacific. To clarify the taxonomic status of the Pacific worms, we obtained the genetic characteristics of L. cirrata from Grotsund Fjord, near Tromso, one of the sites where Michael Sars collected worms...

Rhynchospio glandulosa is a common polychaete living in silty tubes in soft sediments in temperate shallow waters in the Northwest Pacific. Worms are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Spermatogenesis occurs in the coelomic cavity. Spermatids are joined in 16-cell clusters. The spermatozoa have a dome-shaped acro-some 1.2 μm long, an elongated nucleus 2....

Adult Scolelepis are unique among spionids in having an elongated, pointed snout, used for digging in sediment. Earlier studies have suggested that the pointed part of the larval head was a peristomial extension. Despite this, modern authors characterize larvae and adults of Scolelepis as having an elongated, pointed prostomium. Based on new observ...

Simple Summary Transoceanic shipping and global development of aquaculture are the main vectors for the introduction of marine organisms, as adults or their larvae, to new remote locations. Recent invasions by large species may be well known and documented, while older and smaller-bodied invasions are often hidden and more difficult to detect. In t...

Two well-known and long-standing global vectors for the dispersal of marine species are international shipping and international trade in edible seafood. Far less well known is the impact of these interoceanic movements on the biogeography of species boring into the calcareous substrata (barnacles and tubeworms in vessel biofouling and mollusc shel...

Three species of tube-dwelling polydorins (Annelida: Spionidae: Polydorini) from China have been reported for the South China Sea to date. Three new species of shell-boring Dipolydora are described and illustrated in the present study based on new material collected in the Gulf of Thailand and Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam. Dipolydora echinata sp. nov. an...

Marenzelleria Mesnil, 1896 is a small group of spionid polychaetes comprising five valid species, all of which appear similar to each other. The identification of worms based on morphological features is often confusing, and thus molecular data have been suggested as providing crucial additional diagnostic characters. Here we summarize and map avai...

Seven species of Pseudopolydora are described and illustrated from the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait: P. achaeta Radashevsky & Hsieh, 2000, P. antennata (Claparède, 1868), P. arabica Radashevsky & Al-Kandari, 2020, P. auha sp. nov., P. kuwaiti sp. nov., P. melanopalpa sp. nov., and P. multispinosa sp. nov. The morphology of the developed planktonic larvae i...

Rhynchospio glandulosa sp. nov. inhabits silty tubes on muddy sand intertidally and in shallow water in the Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan (East Sea), and the Sea of Okhotsk (Korea, China, and Russia). Adults are up to 9 mm long, 1 mm wide for 62 chaetigers, with characteristic groups of glandular cells in the bases of branchiae from chaetiger 7 to chaet...

The morphological reexamination of specimens previously identified as Laonice bahusiensis Söderström, 1920 from North European and Mediterranean collections, supported by the molecular analysis of freshly collected material, enabled the recognition of four different species in the region: the genuine L. bahusiensis, L. irinae n. sp. from North Euro...

Four Pseudopolydora Czerniavsky, 1881 species from European and adjacent waters are distinguished and a key to their identification is provided. Pseudopolydora antennata (Claparède, 1868) is redescribed based on material from the type locality, Gulf of Naples, Italy. Pseudopolydora pulchra (Carazzi, 1893) (type locality in the Gulf of Naples) is al...

The spionid polychaete Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata (Okuda, 1937) was originally described from Japan and has since been reported as a non-indigenous species in soft bottom communities in the Northeast Pacific, the Mediterranean Sea, around Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Florida. The diagnostic features of the adults are palps with ramified yello...

The Asian Pacific spionid polychaete worm Pseudopolydora paucibranchiata (Okuda, 1937) has been repeatedly reported from the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Our recent molecular study showed that the Pacific and the Arabian populations of these worms are not conspecific. Here we describe adult, gamete, and larval morphology of worms from the Arab...

Spiophanes bombyx (Claparède, 1870) from the Gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy, was the first described Spiophanes with fronto-lateral horns on the prostomium. It was also considered the only horned species occurring in European waters. Our sequence data of five gene fragments suggest the presence of two horned sibling Spiophanes species in nor...

A checklist of the polychaete fauna collected from the intertidal coastal zone along the northern part of the Arabian Gulf in Kuwait is presented. Samples were collected from 42 transects, including mainland areas and seven islands, during late autumn and winter seasons from 2013 to 2016. In total, 172 polychaete species from 46 families were ident...

The spionid polychaete Boccardia proboscidea Hartman, 1940 is a tube-dweller and shell/stone-borer widely occurring in temperate waters across the world and considered invasive in many areas. It was originally described from California, USA, and later reported from Pacific Canada, the Asian Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa,...

The spionid polychaete Boccardia proboscidea Hartman, 1940 is a tube-dweller and shell/stone-borer widely occurring in temperate waters across the world and considered invasive in many areas. It was originally described from California, USA, and later reported from Pacific Canada, the Asian Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa,...

Polychaetes of the spionid genus Trochochaeta occur mainly in the northern hemisphere, including North and Central America. In South America, they have been reported only from the northeast region of Brazil – Sergipe and Paraíba – despite numerous biological investigations around the continent. In 2006, a dense population (up to 7000 individuals pe...

Spiophanes uschakowi is a common polychaete living in tubes in sandy sediments in shallow waters of the Sea of Japan. Females and males release their gametes into the water where fertilization and holopelagic, planktotrophic larval development occur. In females, oogenesis is intraovarian: vitellogenesis occurs when the oocytes grow in paired ovarie...

Polydora hoplura Claparède, 1868 is one of the largest species among congeners, attaining 6 cm in length and 2 mm in width for more than 200 chaetigers. It is a harmful shell-borer unintentionally transported with objects of aquaculture across the world. Brief original description and absence of type material resulted in confusion with the identifi...

Rhynchospio Hartman, 1936 is a small group of spionid polychaetes currently comprising ten described species distributed mainly in the Pacific. Five species examined to date are hermaphrodites producing spermatozoa with long nuclei, oocytes with thin and smooth envelopes, and dorsally brooding their offspring. Since our first molecular analysis of...

The spionid polychaete Polydora hoplura Claparède, 1868, is a harmful shell-borer accidentally transported with objects of aquaculture across the world. It was originally described from the Gulf of Naples, Italy, and later widely reported from European waters, South Africa, the Arabian Gulf, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. Here, for the first...

Pygospio elegans Claparède, 1863, the type species of the genus Pygospio, was originally described from Normandy, France, and later widely reported from boreal waters in the northern hemisphere. Sequence data of four gene fragments (2576 bp in total) of the mitochondrial 16S rDNA, nuclear 18S and 28S rDNA, and Histone 3 have shown that individuals...

Nineteen species in seven genera of spionid polychaetes are described and illustrated based on new material collected from the intertidal and shallow waters around the Lizard Island Group, northern Great Barrier Reef. Only one of these species had been previously reported from the Reef. Six species are described as new to science, and the taxonomy...

A well-illustrated glossary supports the study of polychaete anatomy and systematics, as well as aiding species identification, a need that emerged within the shipping and aquaculture industries over recent decades. Sabellidae, Serpulidae and Spionidae are polychaete families that most often include species that are translocated globally through sh...

Rhynchospio glutaea (Ehlers, 1897), Rhynchospio arenincola Hartman, 1936 and Rhynchospio arenincola asiatica Chlebovitsch, 1959, originally described from Strait of Magellan, California, and South Kurile Islands respectively, appear similar to each other in adult morphology. These species and subspecies have been considered by some authors as subje...

Reproductive health of the common cupped oyster Crassostrea angulata cultivated in Taiwan was estimated through histological examination and semiquantitative analysis of their gonads. Oysters were collected in 4 aquaculture sites along the western coast of Taiwan (Hsiangshan, Chiku, Beimen, and Putai), where the major sources of industrial pollutio...

The spionid polychaete Dipolydora blakei is identified from benthic samples collected in the Aegean Sea off Chalkis and the Ionian Sea off Kalamitsi, both on the coast of Greece. Adults of D. blakei are characterized by having the falcate spines of chaetiger 5 with a large lateral tooth and bristles on the convex side of a long and pointed main fan...

Free crawling was an original life style, and the ability to build tubes and bore into shells evolved independently in various annelids and more than once within the family Spionidae. Absence of morphological differences between the shell-boring (SB) and tube-dwelling (TD) spionid worms and the innate ability of borers to build tubes raised a quest...

The spionid polychaete Dipolydora blakei is identified from benthic samples collected in the Aegean Sea off Chalkis and the Ionian Sea off Kalamitsi, both on the coast of Greece. Adults of D. blakei are characterized by having the falcate spines of chaetiger 5 with a large lateral tooth and bristles on the convex side of a long and pointed main fan...

Two spionid polychaetes, Polydora cornuta and Streblospio gynobranchiata, were identified in benthic samples collected in the northern Black Sea and adjacent waters. These species have earlier been classified as the worst invaders in soft bottom communities in the Mediterranean Sea. Polydora cornuta had been previously misidentified and widely repo...

This is the third guide in a series aimed to help in the identification of northern European samples through the National Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control (NMBAQC) Scheme. A review is presented of general morphology and biology of one of the most common groups in marine and es tuarine communities worldwide, spionid polychaetes (Annelida...

Six native bivalves of commercial interest, Aequipecten tehuelchus, Mytilus sp., Aulacomya atra, Ostrea puelchana, Protothaca antiqua and Pododesmus rudis, were examined on account of shell-boring spionid polychaetes in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Adults of Polydora rickettsi were found boring into shells of all molluscs but Mytilus sp., whereas...

Adults of Aonides oxycephala, common inhabitants of shallow boreal waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, release gametes into the water where fertilization and lecithotrophic larval development occur. During spermiogenesis, the acrosomal vesicle migrates from the posterior to the anterior end of the spermatid and the number of mitochondria red...

Purposeful studies of alien species were performed in the Sea of Japan (Russian territory) in recent decades; however, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea received less attention, and the studies there were occasional, so the data are scarce. An annotated list of 66 nonindigenous species of various degree of acclimatization is presented for the f...

Spermatogenesis in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas from the Sea of Japan, was studied with transmission and scanning electron microscopes. Spermatogonia are characterized by two kinds of nuage-like material (large germinal body-like structure and/or cluster of small globules), cisternae of endoplasmic reticulum and prominent Golgi body that gi...

To characterize novel features that will be useful in the discussion and validation of the spionid polychaete Boccardiella hamata from the Sea of Japan, the successive stages of spermatogenesis were described and illustrated. Spermatogonia, spermatocytes and early spermatids are aflagellar cells that develop synchronously in clusters united by a cy...

Prionospio japonica, a common inhabitant of estuaries in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, releases gametes into the water, where fertilization and planktotrophic larval development occur. Each spermatozoon has a biradially symmetrical acrosome 0.3 ± 0.1 µm long, a spherical nucleus 1.7 ± 0.2 µm in diameter, 4 spherical mitochondria 0.8 ± 0.1 µm in d...

Spionidae is one of the most abundant and diverse taxa among polychaetes. Scolelepis is one of the most abundant genus in shallow waters being widely distributed worldwide. Seven Scolelepis species have been reported to the Brazilian coast, but their taxonomy should be verified owing to a discussion on correct species identification and the possibi...

Laonice species from South and Central America are reviewed based on museum collections and new material collected in southern Brazil. An identification key is provided to 10 species including three previously described species, L. antarcticae Hartman, 1953, L. weddellia Hartman, 1978, L. branchiata Nonato, Bolívar & Lana, 1986, and three species r...

The ultrastructure of spermatozoa of the Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas from an industrially polluted area on the Hsinchu City coast and a relatively clean aquaculture area on Penghu Island, Taiwan, was studied. Oyster gonads were sectioned and examined with light and transmission electron microscopes. The number of spermatozoa in the acinus lum...

Adults of Pseudopolydora rosebelae sp. nov. inhabit silty tubes on muddy bottoms in shallow water in southern Brazil, states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They are rare and extremely delicate, attaining 20 mm long for 55 chaetigers. The worms are distinctive by their colourful yellow and black pigmentation on the anterior part of body and palps,...

Work on the investigation of organisms of ballast water and sediments of ships sailing on Russia-Japan and Russia-China lines was started in the Port of Vladivostok for the first time for the Far East seas of Russia. In total, 145 taxa, 37 microalgal species, 24 holoplankton species, 22 meroplankton taxa, and 10 meiofauna groups were revealed, 24 s...

The ultrastructure of spermatozoa of the Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas from an industrially polluted area on the Hsinchu City coast and a relatively clean aquaculture area on Penghu Island, Taiwan, was studied. Oyster gonads were sectioned and examined with light and transmission electron microscopes. The number of spermatozoa in the acinus lum...

A new genus and species of parasitic copepod (Clausiidae), Spionicola mystaceus, associated with the polychaete Dipolydora armata (Spionidae) is described and figured. The new copepod has an elongate body, 5-segmented antennule, 2-segmented rami on legs 1 and 2, 2 spines representing leg 3, no leg 4, leg 5 well developed and reduced armature elemen...

Large mature individuals of the brachiopod Coptothyris adamsi Davidson, 1871 were found in the fouling of a pier in Koz’mina Bight (Nakhodka Bay, Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan) in September 2006. The population density of the brachiopod in the fouling reached 100 specimens/m2 and greatly exceeded the density of this species in benthic communiti...

Adults of a new spionid polychaete, Rhynchospio nhatrangi, inhabit sandy tubes on muddy sand intertidal flats in an estuary of Nha Trang Bay, southern Vietnam. The worms are up to 8 mm long and 0.5 mm wide for 55 chaetigers. They are unique among spionids in the changes in the arrangement of hooks during ontogenesis: first development of tridentate...

The ultrastructure of spermatozoa of the Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas from an industrially polluted area on the Hsinchu City coast and a relatively clean aquaculture area on Penghu Island, Taiwan, was studied. Oyster gonads were sectioned and examined with light and transmission electron microscopes. The number of spermatozoa in the acinus lum...

Four Polydora species boring into oyster shells in South America are described based on museum- and new material collected mainly in Brazil. These include P. cf. haswelli newly recorded for South America, P. ecuadoriana and P. rickettsi newly recorded for the Atlantic coast of South America, and a new species described from Brazil. Extension of the...

Four Polydora species boring into oyster shells in South America are described based on museumand new material collected mainly in Brazil. These include P. cf. haswelli newly recorded for South America, P. ecuadoriana and P. rickettsi newly recorded for the Atlantic coast of South America, and a new species described from Brazil. Extension of the d...

A checklist of polychaete species recorded fromParaná State (Southern Brazil, 25o10’– 25o58’ S /47o59’– 48o35’ W), including estuarine areas fromParanaguá and Guaratuba Bays and shallowcontinental shelf bottoms, is reported. Altogether44 families, 164 genera, and 259 valid species arecurrently known from the area. The list, whichprovides a synthesi...

A pair of spherical unpigmented ocelli in addition to pigmented eyes have been observed in the anterior part of the prostomium in larvae of more than 40 species of Spionidae examined alive with light microscopy. Ocelli become visible in larvae at the one- to three-segment stage, increase in size as growth proceeds, and probably disintegrate in the...

Two sympatric species earlier differentiated by means of starch gel electrophoresis within Polydora cf. ciliata from the Sea of Japan are here identified and their adult and gamete morphology are described and illustrated. One species bores into various shells and coralline algae while the other bores only into gastropod shells occupied by hermit c...

Prionospiopatagonica inhabits temporary silty tubes intertidally and shallow subtidally in brackish water estuarine environments in southern Chile. The species is gonochoristic with the female:male ratio being close to 2:1. Females and males release gametes into water. Pelagic planktotrophic larvae were caught in the plankton in the River Valdivia...

The spionid polychaete Dipolydora giardi (Mesnil, 1896), originally described as a borer in coralline algae from northern France, was later reported world-wide boring into various shells, sponges and also inhabiting mud tubes on soft bottoms. The reported morphological variability and wide range of habitats suggested that more than one species migh...

The spionid polychaete Dipolydora giardi (Mesnil, 1896), originally described as a borer in coralline algae from northern France, was later reported world-wide boring into various shells, sponges and also inhabiting mud tubes on soft bottoms. The reported morphological variability and wide range of habitats suggested that more than one species migh...

The spionid mudworm Polydora cornuta Bosc, 1802 (formerly Polydora ligni Webster, 1880) is redescribed based on museum and new material collected in temperate and subtropical zones worldwide. Previously unobserved features are noted, including arrangement of lateral ciliated organs on all chaetigers but 4 and 5, metanephridial organs and glandular...

A Polydora species was found boring in shells of the abalone Haliotis discus hannai cultivated in land-based tanks in Coquimbo, Chile. Spionid polychaetes of Polydora and related genera have been reported from Chile but no worms similar to those found in abalone have been described. The abalone pest corresponds in morphology to Polydora uncinata Sa...

The spionid polychaete Polydora rickettsi is primarily a borer in various calcareous substrata in the eastern Pacific. Redescription of the species from the type locality in Mexico is required to better understand its distribution. In Chile, females and males become mature after growth to c. 60 segments. Sex allocation in the population is close to...

The spionid polychaete Dipolydoraarmata, a borer in calcareous substrata, is recorded for the first time from Belize, Brazil, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Specimens from these and other localities, as well as the type material of Polydoraarmata from Madeira Island and Polydorarogeri from the Mediterranean were examined and all the specimens were considered...

A Dipolydora species (Polychaeta: Spionidae) was found in mud tubes attached to the larger tubes of the chaetopterid polychaete Chaetopterus cautus in Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan. The worms were close in morphology to D. carunculata, a borer of various calcareous substrata and sponges described earlier from the same area. The chaetopter...

In anterior segments of spionid polychaetes notochaetae are generally capillaries arranged in three distinct groups or rows including an anterior and a posterior row and a dorsal superior tuft; neurochaetae are also capillaries arranged in anterior and posterior rows plus a ventral inferior tuft. In succeeding segments, the notopodial capillaries a...

Eight species of the genus Pseudopolydora (Polychaeta: Spionidae) are reported from the shallow waters of Taiwan and off mainland China, including P. diopatra Hsieh, 1992, P. cf. kempi japonica Imajima and Hartman, 1964, P. paucibranchiata (Okuda, 1937), and five species new to science: P. achaeta, P. corniculata, P. gigeriosa, P. reticulata, and P...

Vasily I. Radashevsky and Hwey-Lian Hsieh (2000) Polydora (Polychaeta: Spionidae) species from Taiwan. Zoological Studies 39(3): 203-217. This report discusses 5 species of the genus Polydora (Polychaeta: Spionidae) from the shallow waters of Taiwan and off mainland China. These include P. cf. agassizi Claparède, 1869, P. cornuta Bosc, 1802, and 3...

Chromosome complements of Polydora curiosa Radashevsky, 1994 (Polychaeta: Spionidae) were examined using air-drying method. Regenerating worm tips and gamete-bearing segments were used for the analysis. A diploid chromosome number of 34 was found in well-spread metaphase plates of somatic cells. A pair of sex chromosomes (XY) with the Y considerabl...

Polydora websteri Hartman in Loosanoff and Engle, 1943 (Polychaeta: Spionidae) was proposed as a replacement name for Polydora caeca Webster, 1879, a junior secondary homonym of P. coeca (Orsted, 1843). Comparison of Webster's description with Hartman's material used for her redescription and with recently discovered specimens matching Webster's de...

A new spionid polychaete species, Polydom neocaeca, is described from intertidal and shallow subtidal areas in Rhode Island on the east coast of North America. Adults bore into shells of living gastropods, gastropod shells occupied by hermit crabs, and bivalve shell fragments. Females deposit 13–24 egg capsules joined in a string from June-November...

Two morphologically indistinguishable but genetically very distinct polychaete species of the family Spionidae are found in the Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan. Both species bore into molluscan shells and occur sympatrically. They are close in morphology to Polydora ciliata (Johnston, 1838) and some other members of the redefined P. ciliata...

A new polychaete species, Polydorella dawydoffi (Spionidae) is described from the South China Sea, Vietnam. The species attains a length of 2 mm forming 15 segments and reproduces asexually by paratomy, with the paratomic growth zone appearing between segments 11 and 12. Sexual reproduction was not observed. Polydorella dawydoffi constructs mud tub...

Polydora vulgaris Mohammad, 1972, a commensal borer of the oysters Pinctada margaritifera and Hyotissa hyotis from the South China Sea, was investigated by means of starch gel electrophoresis. Polydora vulgaris and the allopatric sibling Polydora glycymerica Radashevsky, 1993, a commensal borer of the bivalve Glycymeris yessoensis from the Sea of J...

A new spionid species, Polydora curiosa, from the Kurile Islands and adjacent areas is described. Adults bore into calcareous substrata. Females deposit 13-33 eggs in 7-18 capsules joined in a string, in June-August. Each egg capsule is attached by two stalks to the inside wall of the female's burrow and contains 1-4 eggs. The eggs are rich in yolk...