Mussel biology: from the byssus to ecology and physiology, including microplastic ingestion and deep-sea adaptations

AbstractMussels are a group of bivalves that includes the dominant species of shallow-sea, freshwater, and deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems. Mussels cling to various solid underwater surfaces using a proteinaceous thread, called the byssus, which is central to their ecology, physiology, and evolution. Mussels cluster using their byssi to form “mussel beds,” thereby increasing their biomass per unit of habitat area, and also creating habitats for other organisms. Clustered mussels actively filter feed to obtain nutrients, but also ingest pollutants and suspended particles; thus, mussels are good subjects for pollution analyses, especially for microplastic pollution. The byssus also facilitates invasiveness, allowing mussels to hitchhike on ships, and to utilize other man-made structures, including quay walls and power plant inlets, which are less attractive to native species. Physiologically, mussels have adapted to environmental stressors associated with a sessile lifestyle. Osmotic adaptation is especially important for life in intertidal zones, and taurine is a major component of that adaptation. Taurine accumulation systems have also been modified to adapt to sulfide-rich environments near deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The byssus may have also enabled access to vent environments, allowing mussels to attach to “evolutionary stepping stones” and also to vent chimneys.

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Nematode succession at deep-sea hydrothermal vents after a recent volcanic eruption with the description of two dominant species

Organisms Diversity & Evolution ◽

10.1007/s13127-012-0122-2 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 349-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Sabine Gollner ◽

Maria Miljutina ◽

Monika Bright

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Volcanic Eruption ◽

Hydrothermal Vents ◽

Dominant Species

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Transcriptomic analysis reveals insights into deep-sea adaptations of the dominant species, Shinkaia crosnieri (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura), inhabiting both hydrothermal vents and cold seeps

BMC Genomics ◽

10.1186/s12864-019-5753-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jiao Cheng ◽

Min Hui ◽

Zhongli Sha

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Hydrothermal Vents ◽

Dominant Species ◽

Transcriptomic Analysis ◽

Cold Seeps

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A biogeographic network reveals evolutionary links between deep-sea hydrothermal vent and methane seep faunas

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2016.2337 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 283 (1844) ◽

pp. 20162337 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Steffen Kiel

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Hydrothermal Vents ◽

Subduction Zones ◽

Continental Margins ◽

Stepping Stones ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Pacific Ocean ◽

Active Continental Margins ◽

Ocean Ridge

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents and methane seeps are inhabited by members of the same higher taxa but share few species, thus scientists have long sought habitats or regions of intermediate character that would facilitate connectivity among these habitats. Here, a network analysis of 79 vent, seep, and whale-fall communities with 121 genus-level taxa identified sedimented vents as a main intermediate link between the two types of ecosystems. Sedimented vents share hot, metal-rich fluids with mid-ocean ridge-type vents and soft sediment with seeps. Such sites are common along the active continental margins of the Pacific Ocean, facilitating connectivity among vent/seep faunas in this region. By contrast, sedimented vents are rare in the Atlantic Ocean, offering an explanation for the greater distinction between its vent and seep faunas compared with those of the Pacific Ocean. The distribution of subduction zones and associated back-arc basins, where sedimented vents are common, likely plays a major role in the evolutionary and biogeographic connectivity of vent and seep faunas. The hypothesis that decaying whale carcasses are dispersal stepping stones linking these environments is not supported.

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Chiridota heheva—the cosmopolitan holothurian

Marine Biodiversity ◽

10.1007/s12526-020-01128-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

Author(s):

Elin A. Thomas ◽

Ruoyu Liu ◽

Diva Amon ◽

Jon T. Copley ◽

Adrian G. Glover ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Analysis ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Species Complex ◽

Hydrothermal Vents ◽

Novel Species ◽

Cold Seeps ◽

Ecological Studies ◽

Chemosynthetic Ecosystems ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

AbstractChemosynthetic ecosystems have long been acknowledged as key areas of enrichment for deep-sea life, supporting hundreds of endemic species. Echinoderms are among the most common taxa inhabiting the periphery of chemosynthetic environments, and of these, chiridotid holothurians are often the most frequently observed. Yet, published records of chiridotids in these habitats are often noted only as supplemental information to larger ecological studies and several remain taxonomically unverified. This study therefore aimed to collate and review all known records attributed to Chiridota Eschscholtz, 1829, and to conduct the first phylogenetic analysis into the relationship of these chiridotid holothurians across global chemosynthetic habitats. We show that Chiridota heheva Pawson & Vance, 2004 is a globally widespread, cosmopolitan holothurian that occupies all three types of deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystem—hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and organic falls—as an organic-enrichment opportunist. Furthermore, we hypothesise that C. heheva may be synonymous with another vent-endemic chiridotid, Chiridota hydrothermica Smirnov et al., 2000, owing to the strong morphological, ecological and biogeographical parallels between the two species, and predict that any chiridotid holothurians subsequently discovered at global reducing environments will belong to this novel species complex. This study highlights the importance of understudied, peripheral taxa, such as holothurians, to provide insights to biogeography, connectivity and speciation at insular deep-sea habitats.

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First columbellid species (Gastropoda: Buccinoidea) from deep-sea hydrothermal vents, discovered in Okinawa Trough, Japan

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4363.4.13 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4363 (4) ◽

pp. 592

Author(s):

CHONG CHEN ◽

HIROMI KAYAMA WATANABE ◽

JUAN FRANCISCO ARAYA

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Hydrothermal Vent ◽

Hydrothermal Vents ◽

Okinawa Trough ◽

First Record ◽

Hydrothermal Field ◽

Molluscan Diversity ◽

Chemosynthetic Ecosystems ◽

A New Species

The molluscan diversity of deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems in Japan has been in general well documented with about 80 described species, of which over half are gastropods (Sasaki et al. 2005; Fujikura et al. 2012; Sasaki et al. 2016). Recently, however, a number of novel hydrothermal vent sites were discovered in the area using multibeam echo-sounding (Nakamura et al. 2015), providing opportunities for new discoveries. As a part of ongoing studies documenting the biodiversity of such sites, we present the first record of Columbellidae from hydrothermal vents, with a new species recovered from Natsu and Aki sites, in the Iheya North hydrothermal field (for map and background on the vent field see Nakamura et al. 2015).

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Scientific Gear as a Vector for Non-Native Species at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

Conservation Biology ◽

10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01864.x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 938-942 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

JANET R. VOIGHT ◽

RAYMOND W. LEE ◽

ABIGAIL J. REFT ◽

AMANDA E. BATES

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Native Species ◽

Hydrothermal Vents

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Several deep-sea mussels and their associated symbionts are able to live both on wood and on whale falls

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2008.1101 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 276 (1654) ◽

pp. 177-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

Julien Lorion ◽

Sébastien Duperron ◽

Olivier Gros ◽

Corinne Cruaud ◽

Sarah Samadi

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Hydrothermal Vents ◽

Habitat Choice ◽

Ecological Niches ◽

Cold Seeps ◽

Stepping Stones ◽

Symbiotic Associations ◽

Mussel Species ◽

Close Relatives ◽

Host Tissues

Bathymodiolin mussels occur at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, where they thrive thanks to symbiotic associations with chemotrophic bacteria. Closely related genera Idas and Adipicola are associated with organic falls, ecosystems that have been suggested as potential evolutionary ‘stepping stones’ in the colonization of deeper and more sulphide-rich environments. Such a scenario should result from specializations to given environments from species with larger ecological niches. This study provides molecular-based evidence for the existence of two mussel species found both on sunken wood and bones. Each species specifically harbours one bacterial phylotype corresponding to thioautotrophic bacteria related to other bathymodiolin symbionts. Phylogenetic patterns between hosts and symbionts are partially congruent. However, active endocytosis and occurrences of minor symbiont lineages within species which are not their usual host suggest an environmental or horizontal rather than strictly vertical transmission of symbionts. Although the bacteria are close relatives, their localization is intracellular in one mussel species and extracellular in the other, suggesting that habitat choice is independent of the symbiont localization. The variation of bacterial densities in host tissues is related to the substrate on which specimens were sampled and could explain the abilities of host species to adapt to various substrates.

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