Raman spectroscopic study of the mineral composition of cirratulid tubes (Annelida, Polychaeta)

Raman spectroscopy was used to determine the mineralogical composition of the calcareous tubes of three species belonging to the family Cirratulidae. In all three cases, the tubes were found to be aragonitic, confirming previous inferences based on EDX and thin section studies, and corroborated by new EDX analyses revealing the presence of Sr but no Mg. Biomineralization in cirratulids is first recorded in the Oligocene epoch, at a time of aragonite seas. Similarly, the mineralogies of the earliest skeletons matched seawater chemistry in three other polychaete groups that independently evolved calcareous skeletons.