EVIDENCE FOR THE MICROBIAL BASIS OF A CHEMOAUTOTROPHIC INVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY AT A WHALE FALL ON THE DEEP SEA-FLOOR - BONE-COLONIZING BACTERIA AND INVERTEBRATE ENDOSYMBIONTS
Jw. Deming et al., EVIDENCE FOR THE MICROBIAL BASIS OF A CHEMOAUTOTROPHIC INVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY AT A WHALE FALL ON THE DEEP SEA-FLOOR - BONE-COLONIZING BACTERIA AND INVERTEBRATE ENDOSYMBIONTS, Microscopy research and technique, 37(2), 1997, pp. 162-170
To explore the microbial basis for a remarkable macrofaunal community
at the site of a whale skeleton on the seafloor of the Santa Catalina
Basin, we obtained samples of whale bone, bone-colonizing invertebrate
s, microbial mats, and the dominant fauna in the adjacent sulfide-rich
sediments during Alvin expeditions in 1988 and 1991. Invertebrate tis
sues were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and mats
and bone-penetrating bacteria by epifluorescence microscopy (EM). Tiss
ues from the dominant bivalve Vesicomya c.f. gigas, the mytilid mussel
Idasola washingtonia, and selected gastropods and limpets were also a
ssayed chemically for enzymes diagnostic of sulfur- and methane-based
chemoautotrophy and for stable carbon isotopic composition. Results of
all analyses were consistent with dominant sulfur-based endosymbioses
in the clam and mussel (the first record of endosymbiosis in the genu
s Idasola) and the general absence of methane symbioses at the site, s
trengthening the analogy of the whale-skeleton faunal community to tho
se known from distant Pacific hydrothermal vent sites. Examples of min
or endosymbionts, either nitrifying or methanotrophic cells according
to internal membrane structures by TEM, raised the possibility of a su
pplemental mode of nutrition to the clam, or means to remove ammonia i
n the gill tissue, in the event of significant changes in the chemical
environment. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.