Convoluta convoluta, also known as the acoellous turbellarian flatworm,[2] is a small
acoel in the family
Convolutidae. Native to the
Baltic Sea, it invaded the
Gulf of Maine in the late 1990s.[3]
Diet and symbiosis
This flatworm consumes juvenile settling
mussels and harpacticoid
copepods.[4] It also engages in a
symbiosis with a
diatom of the genus Lichmophora,[5] which has also invaded the Gulf of Maine.
Impact and ecology in the Gulf of Maine
In the Gulf of Maine, the impact of this species appears minimal as the habitat is presumably saturated with food, and the species is ultimately self-limited by species
competition.[6] It also appears limited to wave-protected habitats, where it prefers filamentous algae.[6] In 2001, it occurred in densities of up to 19 per square centimeter.[3]
^Mamkaev, Y.V., Seravin, L.N., 1963. Feeding habits of the acoelous turbellarian Convoluta convoluta (Abildgaard). Zoologicheskii Zurnal 42, 197–205
^Apelt, G., 1969. Die Symbiose zwischen dem acoelen Turbellar Convoluta convoluta und Diatomeen der Gattung Lichmophora (In German). Marine Biology (Berlin) 3, 165–187
^
abByrnes, J.E. and Witman, J.D. 2003. Impact assessment of an invasive flatworm, Convoluta convoluta, in the Southern Gulf of Maine. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 203: 173–191