SUPPLY OF REGENERATED NITROGEN TO SEA-ANEMONES BY THEIR SYMBIOTIC SHRIMP

The spotted anemone shrimp, Periclimenes yucatanicus (Ives, 1891), a f requent symbiont of the giant sea anemone, Condylactis gigantea Weinla nd, 1860, excretes ammonia at the rate of 0.0393 mu mol total NH4-N/(g of shrimp . min), enriching the nitrogen concentration among the anem one's tentacles. Anemones associated recently with a shrimp demonstrat ed an enhanced capacity to take up external ammonia, compared with ane mones not recently associated with a shrimp, and their tissues contain ed more zooxanthellae. Benthic invertebrates represent a potentially i mportant and unexplored source of regenerated nitrogen on coral reefs.