First report of Osedax in the Indian Ocean indicative of trans-oceanic dispersal through the Southern Ocean

• DOI: 10.1007/s12526-019-01034-x
• Publication Date: 2020-01-14T10:02:42Z
• Authors: Yadong Zhou; Yuan Wang; Yuanning Li; Chengcheng Shen; Zhensheng Liu; Chunsheng Wang
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; 14. Life underwater

Three specimens of the bone-eating worms, Osedax rubiplumus Rouse, Goffredi & Vrijenhoek, 2004, were collected from pig bones deployed in the periphery of Longqi vent field on the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). Osedax rubiplumus was previously only reported in both the eastern and western North Pacific and Antarctic oceans. Our finding extends its range to the Indian Ocean, representing a much wider distribution of O. rubiplumus than previously expected. Moreover, all individuals of O. rubiplumus from the SWIR form a single haplotype with the highest divergence from the Pacific ones.