THE BIOLOGY OF WOOD-BORING TEREDMID MOLLUSCS
337
discriminately every material of plant origin. In India alone millions of
rupees are spent every year on the replacement of piles, jetties, fenders,
boats, catamarans etc., destroyed by these organisms. Becker (1958)
estimated that in India alone, the periodic cost of replacement of fishing
craft destroyed by marine borers amounts to 2.5 million rupees. According to estimates by the U.S. Navy, the damage to boats, barges,
bulkheads and other marine structures by borers in U.S. exceeds 60
million dollars every year. The destructive habits and biology of these
molluscs have been the subject of much scientific interest and popular
concern.
Thcre is at the present time no comprehensive treatment of the
biology of shipworms as a whole. The recent work of Turner (1966)
provides a systematic compendium of the genera and species, yet many
other aspects of study are treated only briefly. The absence of a comprehensive survey is surprising and is perhaps due to the fact that many
papers are difficult to trace and many others, owing to their limited
circulation, did not attract the attention they deserved. Knowledge of
shipworms from parts of the world such as the Indian Ocean is particularly scanty and the morphological picture of even representative
genera is far from satisfactory. The lack of information regarding
many fundamental aspects is often surprising. Many accepted generalizations are invalid, the data on which they are based being of considerable age and unconfirmed or even incorrect. A critical survey of
recent progress has not been easy, with no modern treatment of the
group as a whole to serve as a basis for discussion.
Students of invertebrate biology as well as those interested in
problems of marine ecology are likely to benefit by a review of this kind.
Such an attempt, while highlighting recent studies, will also indicate
possible gaps in our knowledge of these pests despite the large number
of published papers. What Korringa (1952) has so aptly said for oysters
is equally true for shipworms. “. . . the greater the number of papers,
the more we feel compelled to admit with complete candor and humility
that we have but a poor understanding of many important factors in
the oysters biology.”
The scope of the present review is limited to papers dealing with the
biology of shipworms. Papers concerning taxonomy have recently been
adequately reviewed by Turner (1966) and are not emphasized here.
Limiting this review to a few years only is likely to mar the fullness of
the picture and so all relevant papers accessible to us have been included. The output of information on shipworms has been as erratic as
their ravages which are “ periodically recurring devastations separated
by often lengthy intervals of comparative freedom from attack.”
337
discriminately every material of plant origin. In India alone millions of
rupees are spent every year on the replacement of piles, jetties, fenders,
boats, catamarans etc., destroyed by these organisms. Becker (1958)
estimated that in India alone, the periodic cost of replacement of fishing
craft destroyed by marine borers amounts to 2.5 million rupees. According to estimates by the U.S. Navy, the damage to boats, barges,
bulkheads and other marine structures by borers in U.S. exceeds 60
million dollars every year. The destructive habits and biology of these
molluscs have been the subject of much scientific interest and popular
concern.
Thcre is at the present time no comprehensive treatment of the
biology of shipworms as a whole. The recent work of Turner (1966)
provides a systematic compendium of the genera and species, yet many
other aspects of study are treated only briefly. The absence of a comprehensive survey is surprising and is perhaps due to the fact that many
papers are difficult to trace and many others, owing to their limited
circulation, did not attract the attention they deserved. Knowledge of
shipworms from parts of the world such as the Indian Ocean is particularly scanty and the morphological picture of even representative
genera is far from satisfactory. The lack of information regarding
many fundamental aspects is often surprising. Many accepted generalizations are invalid, the data on which they are based being of considerable age and unconfirmed or even incorrect. A critical survey of
recent progress has not been easy, with no modern treatment of the
group as a whole to serve as a basis for discussion.
Students of invertebrate biology as well as those interested in
problems of marine ecology are likely to benefit by a review of this kind.
Such an attempt, while highlighting recent studies, will also indicate
possible gaps in our knowledge of these pests despite the large number
of published papers. What Korringa (1952) has so aptly said for oysters
is equally true for shipworms. “. . . the greater the number of papers,
the more we feel compelled to admit with complete candor and humility
that we have but a poor understanding of many important factors in
the oysters biology.”
The scope of the present review is limited to papers dealing with the
biology of shipworms. Papers concerning taxonomy have recently been
adequately reviewed by Turner (1966) and are not emphasized here.
Limiting this review to a few years only is likely to mar the fullness of
the picture and so all relevant papers accessible to us have been included. The output of information on shipworms has been as erratic as
their ravages which are “ periodically recurring devastations separated
by often lengthy intervals of comparative freedom from attack.”