Distribution of growth lines in the tube wall of serpulids (Polychaeta, Annelida)

Abstract

The frequency of growth increments in the tube wall of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic serpulids is in the range of modern species (i.e. 7–37 growth lines per 50 μm). The growth increments of serpulids do not show correlation with the water temperature and presumably cold water and warm water serpulid species are growing on average with similar speed in terms of number of growth lines per 50 μm. The large serpulid species have usually significantly larger growth increments than smaller species and presumably also grew faster than smaller species. The species with denser skeletons have lower growth rates than species with more porous skeletons. It is possible that serpulids do not have to calcify faster to produce thicker growth increments with lower density.