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Unusual nutrition of the “Pompeii worm” Alvinella pompejana (polychaetous annelid) from a hydrothermal vent environment: SEM, TEM, 13C and 15N evidence

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Abstract

Morphological and histological studies of Alvinella pompejana (a polychaete living in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents of the East Pacific Ocean) were performed using light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The worms were collected in April–May 1979, during the “Rise” cruise by the submersible “Alvin” on the crest of East Pacific Rise at 21°N. The digestive tracts contained many sulfide particles (as determined by microprobe analysis) associated with organic matter and bacteria. Bacterial communities of different morphological types (cocci and filaments) were also observed at different levels of the worm's outer teguments. An atypical (possibly bacteria-derived) nutritional source of carbon and nitrogen for A. pompejana is indicated by the natural abundances of 13C:12C and 15N:14N in its tissues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre océanologique de Bretagne, B.P. 337, F-29273, Brest Cédex, France

    D. Desbruyères & L. Laubier

  2. Centre de Cytologie Expérimentale du C.N.R.S., 67, rue Maurice Gunsbourg, F-94200, Ivry-sur-Seine, France

    F. Gaill

  3. Laboratoire de Zoologie, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 6, avenue Le Gorgeu, F-29283, Brest Cédex, France

    D. Prieur

  4. NASA-Ames Research Center, N-239-12, Moffett Field, California, 94035, USA

    G. H. Rau

Authors
  1. D. Desbruyères
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  2. F. Gaill
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  3. L. Laubier
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  4. D. Prieur
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  5. G. H. Rau
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Additional information

Communicated by J. M. Pérès, Marseille

Contribution No. 807 from Centre Océanologique de Bretagne, B.P. 337, F-29273 Brest Cédex, France

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Desbruyères, D., Gaill, F., Laubier, L. et al. Unusual nutrition of the “Pompeii worm” Alvinella pompejana (polychaetous annelid) from a hydrothermal vent environment: SEM, TEM, 13C and 15N evidence. Mar. Biol. 75, 201–205 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406003

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406003

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