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Oweniidae
Natural History
Oweniids are filter and deposit-feeding polychaetes that construct characteristic tubes of overlapping sand particles. They are frequently found still within their tubes in preserved benthic samples. The segments of oweniids are very elongate, especially near the anterior end which in the most commonly encountered genus, Owenia, carries a short crown of tentacles. Oweniids are often reported from moderate depths on the continental slope, but do not appear to be common in abyssal depths.
Diversity
Fauchald (1977) recognises 5 genera of Oweniidae in the world, all of which occur in Australia, and 27 species. However, at present only 1 described species exists in Australia, Owenia fusiformis, a "cosmopolitan species" whose status in Australia (and elsewhere) requires investigation. The other 4 genera are represented by 1 undescribed species each provisionally identified from major benthic surveys of soft sediments in southeastern Australia. The principal areas surveyed are Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay (material held in Museum Victoria, Melbourne) and Jervis and Botany Bays (material held in Australian Museum, Sydney). Many taxa undoubtedly remain to be described from Australian waters, especially beyond the soft sediment communities of southeastern Australia which have generated much of the material covered here.
Owenia is the most speciose genus, and opinions vary as to the status of Galathowenia and Myrioglobula) which are known only from the type species.
Description | Identification
tips | Natural History | Diversity
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