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Plasticity in reproduction and nutrition in wood-boring bivalves (Xylophaga atlantica) from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

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Abstract

High densities of the wood-boring bivalve Xylophaga atlantica colonized pine wood cubes in colonization devices deployed at 2279 m depth for 414 days (14 July 2007–31 August 2008) near hydrothermal vents at the Rainbow site on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (36°13.7454′N/33°54.0513′W). Histological and biometric observations on specimens with shell lengths (SLs) of 0.5–4.2 mm revealed three cohorts in this dioecious population. The first cohort was dominated by mature females, each with an estimated fecundity of ~450 oocytes with a mean diameter of 28.0 ± 3.9 µm (maximum diameter 40.0 µm); an intermediate cohort was a mix of males and females with SL at first maturity of ≤1.7 mm; the third cohort was exclusively morphologically distinct, mature, dwarf males, SL ~500 µm. These dwarf males were attached to the dorsal shell surfaces of females in the first cohort. The difference in the SL of Prodissoconch I (~60 µm) and Prodissoconch II (500–530 µm) confirmed planktotrophy. Based on their carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios, and a paedomorphic morphology suggesting they are ill-equipped to bore wood, it seems likely that the dwarf males are heterotrophic filter-feeders. Fluorescence in situ hybridization showed, however, that dwarf males hosted a few Gammaproteobacteria in their gills. The absence of a bacterial signal in the germ cells and developing oocytes of females implies that direct trans-ovarial inheritance of symbiotic bacteria does not occur in X. atlantica.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank the people who have deployed and recovered the CHEMECOLIs: Delphine Cottin and Amandine Nunes Jorge. We are grateful to chief scientists, captains and crews of RVs Pourquoi pas? and L’Atalante, and teams operating ROVs Victor 6000 (Ifremer, France) and submersible Nautile (Ifremer, France) during the cruises MOMARDREAM-07 and MOMARDEAM-08. Sample collection and construction of the CHEMECOLIs were funded by CHEMECO (European Sciences Foundation (ESF)/Eurocores/EURODEEP/0001/2007). Analyses and interpretation of data were supported by HERMIONE European Commission (FP7/2007-2013-no 226354), University of Pierre and Marie Curie and Institut Universitaire de France. S. Laming was co-funded by a MARES PhD grant (FPA2011-0016), a post-doctoral grant HERMIONE EC (FP7/2007-2013-no 226354). T. Haga was partially funded by a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS fellows (#198300 and #237855). We would like to thank C. Romano for interesting scientific exchanges on the biology and ecology of wood-boring bivalves. We would like to thank J. Voight on scientific exchanges regarding taxonomy. We would like to thank also V. Bazin (IFR83, UPMC) for a great experience with the scanning electron microscopy, N. Léger for her help with some of the preparation of in situ hybridization, and C. Rodrigues for running the PCRs and the two molecular sequence analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 8187 Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG), CNRS, Univ. Cote d’Opale, Station Marine de Wimereux, Université de Lille, 28 Avenue Foch, B.P.80, 62930, Wimereux, France

    Sylvie Marylène Gaudron

  2. UFR927, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 06, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Sylvie Marylène Gaudron

  3. Research Group, Toyohashi Museum of Natural History, 1–238 Oana, Oiwa-chô, Toyohashi, Aichi, 441-3147, Japan

    T. Haga

  4. UMR 7208 BOREA, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 06, 75052, Paris, France

    H. Wang, S. R. Laming & S. Duperron

  5. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    S. Duperron

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  1. Sylvie Marylène Gaudron
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  2. T. Haga
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Correspondence to Sylvie Marylène Gaudron.

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Gaudron, S.M., Haga, T., Wang, H. et al. Plasticity in reproduction and nutrition in wood-boring bivalves (Xylophaga atlantica) from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Mar Biol 163, 213 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-2988-6

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