Dodecaceria laddi

About Dodecaceria laddi

Dodecaceria laddi is a tiny cirratulid bristle worm associated with calcareous hard substrates. Magalhães and Bailey-Brock’s 2013 redescription examined material from Hawaiʻi and other Pacific islands. The specimens were only 2.5–7 millimeters long, with a cylindrical segmented trunk, a flattened posterior region, and a simple conical tail end. The blunt head lacks eyes. A pair of feeding tentacles and two pairs of slender gill filaments arise near the elongated collar behind the head. Their relative lengths can be affected by loss and regeneration, so length alone is a poor identification character.

The species has sparse capillary bristles in the anterior body and distinctive spoon-shaped hooks farther back. Those hooks, their arrangement, and the origins of the gill filaments are microscopic characters used in identification. More recent comparative work also recognizes other Dodecaceria species with two pairs of gills; that count should not be treated as a unique diagnosis by itself. A whole-body illustration provides an anatomical overview rather than a substitute for examination of the chaetae.

The Pacific redescription records specimens boring coral rubble or shell fragments and notes individuals regenerating anterior or posterior ends. The plate positions a complete worm outside that substrate so the head, filaments, trunk, and tail can all be inspected. Its restrained brown coloration follows descriptions of preserved material and does not establish live color. A particular juvenile, sex difference, or regenerating stage has not been invented.

Kauaʻi inclusion rests on the source listing in Appendix A, printed page 83, of Bishop Museum Technical Report 29a. The report combines survey and historical evidence, and the Atlas retains that bounded occurrence context. The material examined in the 2013 redescription came from other Hawaiian and Pacific localities; it supplies morphology, not a new Kauaʻi collection. The island record does not establish present abundance, island-wide distribution, native origin, or conservation status.