Tissue and symbiont condition of mussels (Bathymodiolus thermophilus) exposed to varying levels of hydrothermal activity
Raulfs, E.C.; Macko, S.A.; Van Dover, C.L. (2004). Tissue and symbiont condition of mussels (Bathymodiolus thermophilus) exposed to varying levels of hydrothermal activity. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K. 84(1): 229-234. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025315404009087h
In: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press/Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: Cambridge. ISSN 0025-3154; e-ISSN 1469-7769, more
|  |
| Keywords |
Analytical techniques > Microscopy > Electron microscopy
Anatomical structures > Body organs > Animal organs > Respiratory organs > Gills
Chemical compounds > Sulphur compounds > Oxides > Sulphur oxides
Fauna > Aquatic organisms > Aquatic animals > Shellfish > Marine organisms > Marine molluscs
Feeding
Microorganisms > Bacteria
Symbionts
Transmission > Light transmission
Marine/Coastal |
| Authors | | Top |
- Raulfs, E.C.
- Macko, S.A.
- Van Dover, C.L.
|
|
|
| Abstract |
Bathymodiolus thermophilus is a mixotrophic mussel capable of deriving nourishment from sulphur-oxidizing, bacterial endosymbionts in its gills and from suspended particulates through mucociliary feeding. These mussels become nutritionally stressed when removed from sulphide-rich fluid, but the dynamics of the host/symbiont relationship during this process are still not fully understood. Bathymodiolus thermophilus mussels were collected from an active and a waning hydrothermal site on the southern East Pacific Rise (EPR) and were removed from active venting for 12 d at a site on the northern EPR. Light and transmission electron microscopy showed that gill symbionts were lost from gill bacteriocytes in transplant mussels and that mussels exposed to longer periods of sulphide deprivation suffered deterioration of gill structure and body condition. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis of a shift toward reliance on photosynthetically derived organic material in mussels at the waning vent site. |
|
