APHOTOMARINE

An educational resource dedicated mainly to the photography
and diversity of marine life that can be found in coastal waters
and intertidal areas of Great Britain and Ireland by David Fenwick.

A-P-H-O-T-O Wildlife Stock Image Library
Eulalia xanthomucosa Teixeira, Vieira, Fenwick et al. 2023 - Yellow slime paddleworm (Marine worm images)
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The full name of this species is -
Eulalia xanthomucosa Teixeira, Vieira, Fenwick, Langeneck, Pleijel, Sampieri, Hernández, Ravara, Costa and Nygren 2023 and is described in the paper Revealing the diversity of the green Eulalia (Annelida, Phyllodocidae) species complex along the European coast, with description of three new species. Published by Springer in Organisms Diversity & Evolution, Jan. 2023.

This is the same species as Eulalia 'Emits Yellow Muscus A' as named on the NBN Atlas and registered by the Natural History Museum. It might be easier to look at it commonly as the "Yellow slime paddleworm", because of the amount of yellow slime it produces which is as far as we know unique to this species of Eulalia in the UK

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - dorsal view anterior 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - dorsal view anterior 2

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - lateral view anterior 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - dorsal view middle 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - dorsal view worm 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - with yellow mucus 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - 1.0mm division rule 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- Looe - habitat / location 1

The specimen above was found in a horizontal crevice in a north facing overhang near the low tide mark, on a low spring tide at Hannafore Point, Hannafore, Looe, Cornwall, 29.04.22.

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- comparison with E. clavigera 1

Note the large eyes of Eulalia sp. "Emits Yellow Muscus A" evolved for crevice living compared with Eulalia clavigera, the Green Leaf Worm, which is often found in light crawling across rocks. Eulalia clavigera also produces clear mucus, not yellow.

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view worm 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view worm 2

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 2

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- segments per mm division 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- with 1.0mm division rule 1

Specimen above found in a rock crevice on the lowershore at Wherry Rocks, Wherrytown, Penzance, Cornwall, 22.08.17.

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- worm 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- worm 2

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia sp. nova.
- worm 3

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- worm 4

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- worm 5

Specimen above found under rocks in a pool on the lowershore on an extremely low tide at Wherry Rocks, Wherrytown, Penzance, Cornwall, 28.09.11.

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 2

Specimen above found in a sample of fouling collected from a pontoon at Newlyn Marina, Newlyn, Cornwall. 28.05.15.

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 3

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 4

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view anterior 5

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- dorsal view mid-section 1

Yellow slime paddleworm
Eulalia xanthomucosa syn.
E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A'
- yellow pigmented mucus 1

Specimen above found on an overhang just beyond the extreme low tide mark at Albert Pier Reef, Penzance, Cornwall, 07.06.16.

This new species to science was first found on the Mediterranean coast of France by the well know marine polychaete expert Dr. Arne Nygren; followed by the author of this website David Fenwick, in Penzance and Hannafore,, Cornwall.

The species had the provisional name of E. 'Emits Yellow Muscus A' and was registered by the Natural History Museum London as (tvk NHMSYS0021180023), it has since been published and given the name Eulalia xanthomucosa by its authors see top of image list box.

The distinctive features of this new species of Eulalia is that Eulalia xanthomucosa produces a thick yellowish mucus on being disturbed, hence its name the Yellow Slime Paddleworm. Eulalia clavigera, the Green Leaf Worm, produces a clear mucus. The eyes of Eulalia xanthomucosa are also far larger than that of Eulalia clavigera, see comparison images above. The eyes are probably much larger because of the habitat tha the new species frequents, in deep dark crevices on the lowest part of the shore that's exposed on the lowest tides. The species should really be regarded as a shallow sublittoral species that might be found at the lower intertidal level.

In Cornwall E. xanthomucosa has been found in rock crevices at Penzance and at Hannafore. Juveniles of this species may also turn up as part of biofouling communities on marina pontoons. Many polychaete species can be found within sediment that become trapped between fouling tunicates and algae etc. creating ideal conditions for juvenile preditory paddleworms. Marinas would therefore be a way of determining whether E. xanthomucosa may be locally present and without a need for any potentially destructive sampling. Selective sampling meant only crevices with loose rocks were searched during the research of this new species, habitat which might have been lost or damaged during the next winters winter storms.

Eulalia xanthomucosa Emits Yellow Muscus A phyllodocidae marine worm images
The main objective of this website is in furthering environmental awareness and education through the medium of photography. To increase awareness and access to the wildlife of the region and help
people find and identify it. Sometimes the difference between species is obvious but many species can only be determined by observing microscopic characteristics that are specific to any one species.