I believe I’ve found a large population of a species of polychaete worm, Dinophilus taeniatus, in a salt marsh in Cape May, NJ, USA. It matches all the physical descriptions Looking at all of the biodiversity databases and the Wikipedia article on the species, it seems like it’s the first observed and reported occurrence of the worm on this continent! I think that’s super duper cool, and I’ve submitted two observations to iNaturalist (x,x), (they’re almost at research grade…! They just need 1 more person to agree that it’s genus Dinophilus!!!) and I posted a few photos & videos as well as my field journal entry on WoRMS.
I know I’m not a “bona fide worm researcher” (yet…) & I’m just a 20-something citizen scientist, but as one who really really wants to become a bona fide worm researcher and is very passionate about his wormies, I just think it’d be really neat if my observations could be the first documented proof of this species being present in North America!
Thanks!!!