''Novocrania anomala'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...

found offshore in the eastern

Atlantic Ocean 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 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Novocrania anomala'' is found from the

Canary Isles The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, the Faeroe Isles,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and Svalbard. It is found attached to the bedrock and boulders at a depth of up to 1500 metres in sheltered environments where the water movement is low.Marine Life Information Network
/ref>

Description

In appearance, ''N. anomala'' resembles a cockle or limpet with a low conical, oval shell up to fifteen millimetres long. The upper valve is the only part visible as the lower valve is cemented to the rock beneath. The shell surface is smooth, white, buff or pale grey and has fine concentric lines. The outer surface is covered by a thin brown periostracum.

Biology

''Novocrania anomala'' is a filter feeder, using the

lophophore The lophophore () is a characteristic feeding organ possessed by four major groups of animals: the Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Hyolitha, and Phoronida, which collectively constitute the protostome group Lophophorata.larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e are fully developed within three days and settle out a few days later, attaching themselves to the substrate. Because ''N. anomala'' favours waters with tidal flows of less than one

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...

, dispersal may be limited.

Ecology

''Novocrania anomala'' is often the dominant species in its environment. It is eaten by starfish, crustacea,

gastropods The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. The ...

and

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

. Compared to molluscs, the shell is easily drilled into and the shells are often heavily bored. However

predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

seems to be limited, perhaps because the brachiopod is unpalatable. This species is often found in association with the sea anemone '' Protanthea simplex'' in very sheltered deep water, usually on

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...

bedrock, silty boulders and rock slopes in

fiord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, Gr ...

s and other areas with calm waters. They are often accompanied by the parchment worm ''

Chaetopterus variopedatus ''Chaetopterus variopedatus'' is a species of parchment worm, a marine polychaete in the family Chaetopteridae. It is found worldwide. However, recent discoveries from molecular phylogeny analysis show that ''Chaetopterus variopedatus ''sensu H ...

'', encrusting red algae and the

polychaete worm Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made ...

Pomatoceros triqueter ''Pomatoceros triqueter'' is a species of tube-building annelid worm in the class Polychaeta. It is common on the north eastern coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea. Polychaetes, or marine bristle worms, have elongated bod ...

''. Other members of the community may be the saddle oyster ''

Pododesmus patelliformis ''Pododesmus patelliformis'', the ribbed saddle-oyster, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Anomiidae. It is found in the north east Atlantic Ocean. Description This oyster has a thin asymmetric shell up to four centimetres in length w ...

'' and the fan worm ''

Sabella pavonina ''Sabella pavonina'', commonly known as the peacock worm, is a marine polychaete worm belonging to the family Sabellidae. They can be found along the coasts of Western Europe and the Mediterranean. It is found in shallow, tidal waters with a be ...

''. Scattered colonies of ''

Alcyonium digitatum ''Alcyonium digitatum'' or dead man's fingers is a species of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is found around the coasts of the northern Atlantic Ocean and other temperate waters such as the South Pacific. Description Dead man's fingers ...

'' are occasionally present along with the hydroid ''

Bougainvillia muscus ''Bougainvillia muscus'' is a marine invertebrate, a species of hydroid in the suborder Anthomedusae. Taxonomy In 1844, van Beneden named the hydroid form of this species as ''Eudendrium ramosum''. Strethill Wright showed that it did not belon ...

''. The barnacle '' Balanus balanus'' and the hermit crab ''

Pagurus bernhardus ''Pagurus bernhardus'' is the common marine hermit crab of Europe's Atlantic coasts. It is sometimes referred to as the common hermit crab or soldier crab. Its carapace reaches long, and is found in both rocky and sandy areas, from the Arctic ...

'' can often be seen in the vicinity and the

squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongsi ...

Munida rugosa ''Munida rugosa'', commonly known as the rugose squat lobster or plated lobster, is a species of decapod crustacean found in the north east Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Taxonomy There has been confusion over the nomenclature of cer ...

'' may be hiding in crevices nearby.European Environment Agency
/ref> A range of solitary sea squirts are often present including '' Ciona intestinalis'', '' Corella parallelogramma'', '' Polycarpa pomaria'', '' Ascidia mentula'' and '' Ascidia virginea''. Echinoderms such as the

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

'' Ophiothrix fragilis'' are frequently seen with their arms protruding from rock cracks, whilst the starfish ''

Asterias rubens The common starfish, common sea star or sugar starfish (''Asterias rubens'') is the most common and familiar starfish in the north-east Atlantic. Belonging to the family Asteriidae, it has five arms and usually grows to between 10–30 ...

'' and the sea urchins '' Echinus esculentus'' and '' Psammechinus miliaris'' occasionally form part of the community, as does the

whelk Whelk (also known as scungilli) is a common name applied to various kinds of sea snail. Although a number of whelks are relatively large and are in the family Buccinidae (the true whelks), the word ''whelk'' is also applied to some other marin ...

Buccinum undatum ''Buccinum undatum'', the common whelk or the waved buccinum, is a large, edible marine gastropod in the family Buccinidae, the "true whelks".Fraussen, K.; Gofas, S. (2014). Buccinum undatum Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of M ...

''. A survey was undertaken of the marine ecology in deep water off County Kerry in Ireland, The rock and boulders were covered with a fine silt and there were coralline crusts over most surfaces. ''N. anomala'' was found on the steep sides and lower parts of boulders while the

tube worm A tubeworm is any worm-like sessile invertebrate that anchors its tail to an underwater surface and secretes around its body a mineral tube, into which it can withdraw its entire body. Tubeworms are found among the following taxa: * Annelida, the ...

'' and the

stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

Caryophyllia smithii ''Caryophyllia smithii'', the Devonshire cup coral, is a species of solitary coral in the family Caryophylliidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. There are shallow and deep-water forms wh ...

'' predominated on the upper parts.BioMar survey of the Kenmare River area, Co. Kerry, August, 1995
/ref>

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2324991 Craniata Animals described in 1776 Taxa named by Otto Friedrich Müller