Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T03:29:02.169Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A new record of the vestimentiferan Lamellibrachia sp. (Polychaeta: Siboglinidae) from a deep shipwreck in the eastern Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

David J. Hughes*
Affiliation:
Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA, UK
Moya Crawford
Affiliation:
Deep Tek Ltd, Kilburns House, Newport on Tay, Fife, DD6 8PL, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: David J. Hughes, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA, UK email: david.hughes@sams.ac.uk
Get access

Abstract

Specimens of the vestimentiferan tubeworm Lamellibrachia sp. were collected from the wreck of the SS ‘Persia’ at 2800 m depth south-east of Crete, in association with decomposing paper in the ship's mailroom. Anaerobic breakdown of cellulose by bacterial consortia including sulphate-reducers is proposed as the source of sulphide required by Lamellibrachia's chemoautotrophic symbionts. Timing of wreck colonization is unknown but observed tube dimensions suggest growth rates at least equal to those measured for Lamellibrachia luymesi at Gulf of Mexico hydrocarbon seeps. The organic substrate supporting vestimentiferan growth in the ‘Persia’ is remarkable in consisting of highly refractory, human-modified terrestrial plant material. This record therefore expands the range of energy sources known to support chemosynthetic communities at the deep-sea floor.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bergquist, D.C., Williams, F.M. and Fisher, C.R. (2000) Longevity record for deep-sea invertebrate. Nature, London 403, 499500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Childress, J.J. and Fisher, C.R. (1992) The biology of hydrothermal vent animals: physiology, biochemistry and autotrophic symbioses. Oceanography and Marine Biology. Annual Review 30, 337441.Google Scholar
Cordes, E.E., Arthur, M.A., Shea, K., Arvidson, R.S. and Fisher, C.R. (2005) Modeling the mutualistic interactions between tubeworms and microbial consortia. PLoS Biology 3, e77.Google Scholar
Dando, P.R., Southward, A.J., Southward, E.C., Dixon, D.R., Crawford, A. and Crawford, M. (1992) Shipwrecked tube worms. Nature, London 356, 667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Dover, C.L. (2000) The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, C.R., Urcuyo, I.A., Simpkins, M.A. and Nix, E. (1997) Life in the slow lane: growth and longevity of coldseep vestimentiferans. P.S.Z.N.: Marine Ecology 18, 8394.Google Scholar
Freytag, J.K., Girguis, P.R., Bergquist, D.C., Andras, J.P., Childress, J.J. and Fisher, C.R. (2001) A paradox resolved: sulphide acquisition by roots of seep tubeworms sustains net chemoautotrophy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, 1340813413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Julian, D., Gaill, F., Wood, E., Arp, A.J. and Fisher, C.R. (1999) Roots as a site of hydrogen sulphide uptake in the hydrocarbon seep vestimentiferan Lamellibrachia sp. Journal of Experimental Biology 202, 22452257.Google Scholar
Marsh, A.G., Mullineaux, L.S., Young, C.M. and Manahan, D.T. (2001) Larval dispersal potential of the tubeworm Riftia pachyptila at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Nature, London 411, 7780.Google Scholar
Olu-Le Roy, K., Sibuet, M., Fiala-Médioni, A., Gofas, S., Salas, C., Mariotti, A., Foucher, J.-P. and Woodside, J. (2005) Cold seep communities in the deep eastern Mediterranean Sea: composition, symbiosis and spatial distribution on mud volcanoes. Deep-Sea Research I 51, 19151936.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postgate, J.R. (1979) The sulphate-reducing bacteria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schulze, A. (2003) Phylogeny of Vestimentifera (Siboglinidae, Annelida) inferred from morphology. Zoologica Scripta 26, 139204.Google Scholar
Southward, A.J. and Southward, E.C. (1992) Distribution of Pogonophora (tube-worms) in British Columbian fjords. Marine Ecology Progress Series 82, 227233.Google Scholar
Tunnicliffe, V., Juniper, S.K. and Sibuet, M. (2003) Reducing environments of the deep-sea floor. In P.A., Tyler (ed.) Ecosystems of the Deep Ocean, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 81110.Google Scholar
Turner, R.D. (1973) Wood-boring bivalves, opportunistic species in the deep sea. Science, New York 180, 13771379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, C.M., Vásquez, E., Metaxas, A. and Tyler, P.A. (1996) Embryology of vestimentiferan tube worms from deepsea methane/sulphide vents. Nature, London 381, 514516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar