Spontaneous activity patterns in animal behaviour: the irrigation of the burrow in the polychaetesChaetopterus variopedatusRenier andNereis diversicolorO. F. Müller

Abstract

Simple methods for recording the water currents, which many polychaetes drive through their tubes, are described. The circulation may be either open (the worm having access to large amounts of well-aerated sea water) or closed (in which case the worm can circulate a small volume only, and there is no oxygenacion or removal of excretory products).When on open circulation, bothChaetopterus variopedatusandNereis diversicoloroften trace quite regularly cyclical patterns for hours at a stretch. Each species has several possible patterns, and may change from one to another without evident external cause. The tracings of each species differ from those of the other, and also from those ofArenicola marina, which were described elsewhere.