''Aphrodita aculeata'', the sea mouse, is a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

polychaete

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

found in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

, the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. The sea mouse normally lies buried head-first in the sand. It has been found at depths of over .

Etymology

The name of the genus is taken from

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...

, the Ancient Greek goddess of love, said to be because of a supposed resemblance to human female genitalia. The English name may derive from the resemblance to a bedraggled

house mouse The house mouse (''Mus musculus'') is a small mammal of the order Rodentia, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus '' Mus''. Althoug ...

when washed up on shore. The specific name ''aculeata'' is the Latin for spiny.

Description

The body of the sea mouse is covered in a dense mat of ''

setae In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

'' (hairlike structures). Adults generally fall within a size range of .

Structural coloration

The spines, or ''setae'', on the scaled back of the sea mouse are one of its unique features. Normally, these have a deep red sheen, warning off predators, but when the light shines on them perpendicularly, they flush green and blue, a "remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism". This structural coloration is a defense mechanism, giving a

warning signal Aposematism is the Advertising in biology, advertising by an animal to potential predation, predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, suc ...

to potential predators. The effect is produced by many hexagonal cylinders within the spines, which "perform much more efficiently than man-made optical fibres".

Feeding

The sea mouse is an active predator feeding primarily on small crabs, hermit crabs and other polychaete worms including '' Pectinaria'' and '' Lumbriconereis''. It has been observed consuming other polychaete worms over three times its own body length. Feeding activity takes place at night, with the animal partially buried in sand.

References

External links

MarLIN: Sea mouse

BIOTIC Species Information for ''Aphrodita aculeata''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1569834 Phyllodocida Animals described in 1758