Prey ID
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- Posts: 19
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2016 8:11 pm
Prey ID
I watched a white faced heron feeding at Foxton Beach yesterday. It took a range of prey including crabs, thin worms and this mouthful. It looked to be a fat pink worm as thick as a little finger and about 10 cm long, but the poor quality photo shows it has appendages of some sort. Anyone know what it is?
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Re: Prey ID
the muscle part of a razor shell
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- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2014 6:39 pm
Re: Prey ID
It's a Bamboo worm. These are polychaetes which feed on sediment. They withdraw to the bottom of their burrow when they detect movement so the heron must have had a light touch.
Cheers
Lloyd
Cheers
Lloyd
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- Posts: 19
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Re: Prey ID
The bamboo worm seems to fit the bill, so to speak. Quite a juicy snack.
- David Riddell
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Re: Prey ID
Definitely a polychaete, but hard to be sure what species. It looks to me like there's a suggestion of fine, closely spaced parapodia (lateral appendages) visible around the middle of the animal, also perhaps a faint longitudinal stripe. The segments on a bamboo worm (Axiothella serrata) are very long, and the parapodia more widely spaced. If I had to stick my neck out I'd suggest a large nereid, maybe Nicon aestuariensis, which has a prominent blood vessel that looks like a stripe running down its back. Or it could be something like Glycera, which is a very muscular, active predator - the red colour's a good match.
- philbattley
- Posts: 667
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 2:21 pm
Re: Prey ID
Nicon is far and away the most numerous work in the Manawatu Estuary, and in their reproductive form condense considerably and become broader with more visible, tightly-packed segments (and hence parapodia). I've only seen a couple (and those were at Miranda) so can't vouch for their colour, but it's possible they are different to non-reproductive individuals. That's the most likely species anyway. I don't think I've ever sampled a Glycera or bamboo worm there.
Cheers, Phil
Cheers, Phil