Some Observations on Living Rhabdopveura Compacta [Hemichordata]

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Abstract
Few observations on living pterobranch hemichordates have been published. Gilchrist (1915) and Andersson (1907) have observed living zooids of Cephalodiscus; while Sars (1874), Schepotieff (1907) and Burdon-Jones (1954, 1957) have observed living Rhabdopleura. No observations appear to have been published on living Atubaria. Recently R. compacta Hincks was discovered near the Plymouth Laboratory (Stebbing, 1968) and during our work (Dilly, 1971, 1972a, b; Stebbing, 1970a, b) we have made some observations on living specimens. Attempts to keep R. compacta alive for long periods have not been completely successful (Stebbing, 1970), although Burdon-Jones (1954) managed to study the salinity tolerances of/?, normani Allman for more than 2 months in the laboratory. He has also studied feeding behaviour in living zooids (Burdon-Jones, 1957) Our observations have been made on specimens maintained in recirculation systems over periods of up to 12 weeks.