The larva of Carinina sp. "chocolate" collected in January 2013. Note anterior claw-like cirri at 2 o'clock, larval eye anterior to the mouth at 11 o'clock and, recently ingested, bivalve veliger (Left to right). Scale bars 100 µm.
Months collected: Jan
Carinina sp. "chocolate"
Sequence Data: 16S, COI
This is the first report of a species in the palaeonemertean genus Carinina on the west coast of North America (Corrêa 1964; Gibson 1995; Roe et al. 2007). We call this species Carinina sp. “chocolate” due to the deep brown body color in adult individuals which we find intertidally in mud and sand flats in Charleston, OR. The larvae of Carinina sp. “chocolate” occur in the plankton in winter months. They are characterized by a single mid-ventral intra-epidermal eye which is anterior to the mouth, a feature also present in Carinoma larvae. The larvae of Carinina sp. “chocolate” are distinct because of their claw-like anterior cirri along their anteriormost region. They also exhibit a thick epidermal layer and lateral cirri. They are bean-shaped, pale yellow to golden in color, lack any marked pigmentation and are covered in small golden granules. At their posterior they have a small cirrus (upper left). One specimen provided an ideal representation of palaeonemertean larvae feeding in the plankton, sometimes on larvae of comparable size. Shown here is a Carinina sp. “chocolate” larva which has just ingested a bivalve veliger larva. Among ripe individuals collected in May of 2012, oocytes were observed and are approximately 120–140 µm in diameter and lack a chorion.