All scientific data collected by the Australian Antarctic program (AAp) are eventually described in the Catalogue of Australian Antarctic and Subantarctic Metadata (CAASM). CAASM can be used to search through AAp data descriptions, and it also provides links to access publicly available datasets, which can either be immediately downloaded or obtained from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC).

Citation
Hosie, G. and O'Sullivan, D. (1999) Pelagic Polychaetes of the Southern Ocean, Ver. 1, Australian Antarctic Data Centre - https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/AADC-00020, Accessed: 2026-07-28
Title
Pelagic Polychaetes of the Southern Ocean
Data Centre
Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia
Created Date
1999-10-07
Revision Date
2025-03-24
Expected Date of Data Release
1999-10-07
Data Version
1
Parent record
None

Description

This dataset is a scanned copy of ANARE Research Notes 3, which describe the Pelagic Polychaetes of the Southern Ocean. It lists all the known species and with illustrated diagrams provides a guide to their taxonomic identification.

Taken from the abstract:
The pelagic polychaetes of the Southern Ocean include Vanadis antarctica (McIntosh), V. longissima (Levinsen), Rhynchonerella bongraini (Gravier), R. petersii (Langerhans), Tomopteris carpenteri (Quatrefages), T. cavallii (Rosa), T. ligulata (Rosa), T. planktonis (Apstein), T. septentrionalis (Steenstrup), Typhloscolex mulleri (Busch), Sagitella kowalevskii (Wagner), Travisiopsis coniceps (Chamberlin), Tr. lobifera (Levinsen), Tr. levinseni (Southern), Tr. lanceolata (Southern), Phalacrophorus pictus (Greeff), Pelagobia longicirrata (Greef) and Maupasia caeca (Viguier).

The diagnostic characters, geographical and bathymetric distribution and synonymy of each of these polychaetes are given together with illustrations and distribution maps. A key is given for the identification of these polychaetes and species found in waters adjacent to the Southern Ocean.

Polychaetes can be divided into two groups; sedentary forms, and errant of free-moving forms including some strictly pelagic species. Although the great majority of adult polychaetes are benthonic, the larvae of most polychaetes are planktonic and the sexual stages of certain families such as the Sylidae and Nereidae are found at night in tow-netting over shallow water.

The document is available for download as a pdf from the provided URL.

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Quality

This dataset includes data from the Southern Ocean as well as adjacent waters, which adds to previous work where there is very little information on the adjacent waters to the Southern Ocean. The dataset includes all known pelagic species in these regions. This dataset was compiled from information from varying sources about pelagic polychaetes of the Southern Ocean. Pelagic species occurring in adjacent waters, between 30 degrees south and the Subtropical Convergence, are also included in the keys. Keys, family, genus and species descriptions are taken from Day, J.H. (1967) Polychaeta of Southern Africa. Part I. Errantia. 878pp. British Museum (Natural History) Pubn. no. 656, London, except where otherwise specified. A distribution map is given for each species. Where differing points of view were found, the author has tried to give both side, and has followed the results of Dales, R.P. and Peter, G. (1972) A synopsis of the pelagic Polychaeta. Journal of Natural History. Vol 6, pp 55-92, in the synonymy as it is the most recent paper. Distribution maps show symbols to represent the location at which a species has been found. These however may be only approximate, where a general area is being specified rather than an exact location.

The information presented in temporal and spatial coverage is approximate only.

Access

The document is publicly available for download as a pdf from the provided URL.

Temporal Coverages

Spatial Coverages

Science Keywords

Additional Keywords

  • polychaetes
  • invertebrates

Locations

  • OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
  • GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR
  • CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

Platforms

  • SHIPS
  • LABORATORY

Instruments

  • TRAWL

Researchers

  • hosie, graham (INVESTIGATOR,TECHNICAL CONTACT,DIF AUTHOR)
  • o'sullivan, david (INVESTIGATOR)

Use Constraints

This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=AADC-00020 when using these data.

Project

    ISO Topic

    • BIOTA
    • OCEANS

    Dataset Language

    • English

    Orignating Centre

    • Australian Antarctic Division

    Dataset Progress

    • COMPLETE

    IDN Node

    • AMD/AU
    • CEOS
    • AMD

    Publications

    • O'Sullivan D. (1982) A guide to the Pelagic Polychaetes of the Southern Ocean., ANARE Research Notes, 3

    Metadata Revision History

      2007-03-23 - updated by Dave Connell. 2014-09-03 - record updated by Dave Connell. 2025-03-25 - record updated by Dave Connell - basic updates.

    Creative Commons License