Abstract
Utilization of marine plants and their constituents by bacteria isolated from the guts of echinoids was investigated to determine the potential role bacteria may have in carbohydrate digestion in echinoids. Bacteria from the guts of the regular echinoids Lytechinus variegatus (Lamarck) and Arbacia punctulata (Lamarck) could physically degrade the marine plants Ulva lactuca and Eucheuma nudum, but not Caulerpa prolifera. Diplanthera wrightii and Thalassia testudinum were only slightly degraded by the gut bacteria. Bacteria from the guts of the irregular echinoids Mellita quinquiesperforata (Leske) and Encope aberrans (Martens) could not physically degrade any of these marine plants. Mixed and some isolated bacteria from the gut of L. variegatus could utilize xylose, rhamnose, glucose, galactose, laminarin, carageenan, starch and agar, but not cellulose or chitin. The results with isolates suggest that the bacteria of the echinoid gut are fairly non-selective. The bacteria of the guts of the two regular echinoids could utilize certain marine plants that the echinoids eat and certain of the plant constituents. The bacteria could not utilize plant fibers.
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Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark
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Prim, P., Lawrence, J.M. Utilization of marine plants and their constituents by bacteria isolated from the gut of echinoids (Echinodermata). Marine Biology 33, 167–173 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00390722
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00390722