AUTHOR=Przeslawski Rachel 

TITLE=Broad distribution of spider-shaped lebensspuren along the Australian continental margin

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1086193

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2022.1086193

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=<p>During feeding and burrowing, many epibenthic and infaunal animals bioturbate sediments and form a range of traces called <italic>lebensspuren</italic> (German for ‘life traces’), defined as any type of sedimentary structure produced by a living organism. During a 2020 survey along western Australia in the Gascoyne Marine Park, a distinct trace was observed several times, identical to the ‘spider trace’ observed in a 2007 survey along eastern Australia, over 4000 km away. The purpose of this brief note is to document and describe the occurrence of this unique and distinctive type of <italic>lebensspuren</italic> and to discuss ways in which similar observations may be effectively shared to increase our understanding of deep-sea biology.</p>