Abstract
Mnemiopsis mccradyi, a common coastal ctenophore, was observed to bear two distinct, exclusive assemblages of protistan epibionts. The mobiline peritrich, Trichodina ctenophorii (Estes et al., 1997), and small Flabellula-like gymnamoebae inhabited only the surface of the comb plates. By contrast, small Vexillifera-like gymnamoebae and large Protoodinium-like dinoflagellates were found on the ectoderm. The relationship of the epimicrobial protists with their host varied from possible mutualism (vexilliferids) to commensalism (trichodinids) to parasitism (flabellulids and protoodinids). Trichodinids may benefit from comb plate attachment by enhanced food capture. Although they did not obviously impair comb plate beating, they did distort the surface and appear to produce fissures in the comb plate surface, which could provide inroads for more severe comb plate damage by amoebae. By contrast, when flabellulid amoebae occurred in very high surface densities (up to ~5000 mm-2), they clearly damaged comb plates by eroding the surface. Where flabellulid pseudopodia invaded the comb plate, we observed local degradation of comb plate cilia, as evidenced by central pair disorientation and plasma membrane perturbation and overt phagocytosis of comb plate cilia. Ectodermal vexilliferids, which occurred at much lower densities, did not appear to have any degradative impact on the ctenophore. By contrast, clusters of ectodermal protoodinids were found in localized depressions most likely caused by invasive phagocytosis. The impact of the protistan assemblages on ctenophore populations is unclear, but under conditions of severe infestation they might depress ctenophore population density.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Afzelius, B., 1961. The fine structure of the cilia from ctenophore swimming plates. J. Biophys. Biochem. Cytol. 9:383–394.
Arthur, J. R. & J. Lorn, 1984. Trichodinid Protozoa (Ciliophora: Peritrichida) from freshwater fishes of Rybinsk Reservior, USSR. Protozoology 31:82–91.
Arthur, J. R. & L. Margolis, 1984. Trichodina truttae Müller, 1937 (Ciliophora: Peritrichida), a common pathogenic ectoparasite of cultured juvenile salmonid fishes in British Columbia: Redescription and examination by scanning electron microscopy. Can J. Zool. 62:1842–1848.
Barlow, D., M. A. Sleigh & R. J. White, 1993. Water flows around the comb plates of the ctenophore Pleurobrachia plotted by computer: a model system for studying propulsion by antiplectic metachronism. J. exp. Biol. 177:113–128.
Bovee, E. C. & T. K. Sawyer, 1979. Marine flora and fauna of the Northeastern United States. Protozoa: Sarcodina: Amoebae. NOAA Technical Report. National Marine Fisheries Service Circular 419. 1–56.
Butler, H. & A. Rogerson, 1995. Temporal and spacial abundance of naked amoebae (Gymnamoebae) in marine benthic sediment of the Clyde Sea area, Scotland. J. Euk. Microbiol. 42:724–730.
Butler, H. & A. Rogerson, 1997. Consumption rates of six species of marine benthic naked amoebae (Gymnamoebia) from sediments in the Clyde Sea area. J. mar. biol. Assoc. U. K. 77:989–997.
Cachon, J. & M. Cachon, 1971. Protoodinium chattoni Hovasse. Manifestations ultrastructurales des repports entre le Péridinien et la Médusa-hôte: fixation, phagocytos. Arch. Protistenk. 113:293–305.
Crowell, S., 1976. An edwardsiid larva parasitic in Mnemiopsis. In Mackie, G. O. (ed.), Coelenterate Ecology and Behaviour, Plenum Publishing Corp., New York:247–250.
Estes, A. M., B. S. Reynolds & A. G. Moss, 1997. Trichodina ctenophorii n. sp., a novel symbiont of ctenophores of the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. J. Euk. Microbiol. 44:420–426.
Edmiston, L., 1979. The Zooplankton of the Apalachicola Bay System. Dissertation, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida: 104 pp.
Fensome, R. A., F. J. R. Taylor, G. Norris, W. A. S. Sarjeant, D. I. Wharton & G. L. Williams, 1993. A classification of living and fossil dinoflagellates. Micropaleontol. Press spec. Publ. No. 7:351 pp.
Finenko, G. A., B. E. Anninsky, A. A. Romanova, G. I. Abolmasova & A. E. Kideys, 2001. Chemical composition, respiration and feeding rates of the new alien ctenophore, Beroe ovata, in the Black Sea. Hydrobiologia 451 (Dev. Hydrobiol. 155): 177–186.
Harbison, G. R. & L. P. Madin, 1979. Diving-A new view of plankton biology. Oceanus 22:21–27.
Harbison, G. R., D. C. Biggs & L. P. Madin, 1977. The associations of Amphipoda Hyperiidea with gelatinous zooplankton-II. Associations with cnidarians, ctenophora and radiolaria. Deep Sea Res. 24:465–485.
Hovasse, R., 1935. Deux Péridiniens parasites convergents: Oodinium poucheti (Lemm.), Protoodiium chattoni. Gen. Nov. sp. Nov. Bull. Biol. Fr. Belg. 69:59–86.
James-Clark, H., 1866. On the anatomy and physiology of the vorticellidan parasite (Trichodina pediculus, Ehr) of Hydra. Ann. Mag. N. Hist. 17:401–425.
Khan, R. A., 1990. Parasitism in marine fish after chronic exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons in the laboratory and to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Bull. envir. Contam. Toxicol. 44:759–763.
Khan, R. A., D. E. Barker, K. Williams-Ryan & R. G. Hooper, 1993. Influence of crude oil and pulp and paper mill effluent on mixed infections of Trichodina cottidarium and T. saintjohnsi (Ciliophora) parasitizing Myoxiocephalus octodecemspinosus and M. scorpius. Can. J. Zool. 72:247–251.
Kinne, O., 1990. Diseases of Marine Animals. Vol. III, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Hamburg, Germany:450 pp.
Koie, M., 1991. Aspects of the morphology and life cycle of Lecithocladium excisum (Digenia: Hemiuridae)-a parasite of Scomber. Int. J. Parasitol. 21:597–602.
Kreps, T. A., J. E. Purcell & K. B. Heidelberg, 1997. Escape of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi from the scyphomedusa predator Chrysaora quinquecirrha. Mar. Biol. 128:441–446.
Lom, J., 1958. A contribution to the systematics and morphology of endoparasitic trichodinids from amphibians, with a proposal of uniform specific characteristics. J. Protozool. 5:251–263.
Lom, J., 1970. Observations on trichodinid ciliates from freshwater fishes. Arch. Protistenk. Bd. 112:153–177.
Lom, J. & D. P. Haldar, 1976. Observations on trichodinids endocommensal in fishes. Trans. am. Micro. Soc. 95:527–541.
Lom, J. & G. L. Hoffman, 1964. Geographic distribution of some species of trichodinids (Ciliata: Peritricha) parasitic on fishes. J. Parasitol. 50:30–35.
Martorelli, S. R., 2001. Digenea parasites of jellyfishes and ctenophores of the southern Atlantic. Hydrobiologia, this volume.
Mills, C. E. & N. McLean, 1991. Ectoparasitism by a dinoflagellate (Dinoflagellata:Oodinidae) on 5 ctenophores and a hydromedusae (Cnidaria). Dis. aquat. Org. 10:211–216.
Page, F. C., 1976. An illustrated key to freshwater and soil amoebae. Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside, Cumbria:155 pp.
Page, F. C., 1986. The genera and possible relationships of the family amoebidae, with special attention to comparative ultrastructure. Protistologica 22:301–316.
Page, F. C., 1987. The classification of ‘naked’1 amoebae (Phylum Rhizopoda). Arch. Protistenk. 133:199–217.
Page, F. C., 1988. A New Key to Freshwater and Soil Gymnamoebae. Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside, Cumbria, U.K.:122 pp.
Page, F. C. & S. M. Blakely, 1979. Cell surface structures: a taxonomic character in the Thecamoebae (Protozoa: Gymnamoebia). Zool. J. linn. Soc. 66:113–135.
Poynton, S. L. & J. Lom, 1989. Some ectoparastic trichodinids from Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L., with a description of Trichodina cooperi n. sp. Can. J. Zool. 67:1793–1800.
Purcell, J. E. & M. N. Arai, 2001. Interactions of pelagic cnidarians and ctenophores with fish: a review. Hydrobiologia 451 (Dev. Hydrobiol. 155): 27–44.
Purcell, J. E., T. A. Shiganova, M. B. Decker & E. D. Houde, 2001. The ctenophore Mnemiopsis in native and exotic habitats: U.S. estuaries versus the Black Sea basin. Hydrobiologia 451 (Dev. Hydrobiol. 155): 145–175.
Reeve, M. R., M. A. Walter & T. Ikeda, 1978. Laboratory studies of ingestion and food utilization in lobate and tentaculate ctenophores. Limnol. Oceanogr. 23:740–751.
Shushkina, E. A. & E. I. Musayeva, 1990. Structure of planktonic community of the Black Sea epipelagic zone and its variation caused by invasion of a new ctenophore species. Oceanology 30:225–228.
Shiganova, T. A., Yu. V. Bulgakova, S. P. Volovik, Z. A. Mirzoyan & S. I. Dudkin, 2001. The new invader Beroe ovata Mayer, 1912 and its effect on the ecosystem in the northeastern Black Sea. Hydrobiologia 451 (Dev. Hydrobiol. 155): 187–197.
Sieburth, J. M., 1984. Protozoan bacterivory in pelagic marine waters. In Hobbie, J. E. & P. J. le B. Williams (eds), Heterotrophic Activity in the Sea, Plenum Publishing Corp., N.Y.: 56 pp.
Stunkard, H. W., 1980. The morphology, life cycle, and taxonomic relations Lepocreadium areolatum (Trematoda: Digenea). Biol. Bull. 158:154–163.
Swanberg, N., 1974. The feeding behaviour of Beroë ovata. Mar. Biol. 24:69–76.
Tamm, S. L., 1982. Ctenophores. In Shelton, G. A. B. (ed.), Electrical Conduction and Behaviour in’ Simple’ Invertebrates. Oxford University Press, London:261–358.
Tamm, S. L. & S. Tamm, 1981. Ciliary reversal without rotation of axonemal structures in ctenophore comb plates. J. Cell Biol. 89:495–509.
Urawa, S. & T. Awakura, 1994. Protozoan diseases of freshwater fishes in Hokkaido. Sci. Rep. Hokkaido Fish Hatchery 48:47–58.
Uzmann, J. R. & A. P. Stickney, 1954. Trichodina myicola n. sp., a peritrichous ciliate from the marine bivalve Mya arenaria L. J. Protozool. 1:149–155.
Van As, J. G. & L. Basson, 1996. An endosymbiotic trichodinid, Trichodina rhinobatae sp. n. (Ciliophora: Peritrichia) found in the lesser guitarfish, Rhinobatos annulatus Smith, 1841 (Rajiformes: Rhinobatidae) from the South African Coast. Acta Protozool. 35:61–67.
Wellborn. T. L., 1967. Trichodina (Ciliata: Urceolariidae) of freshwater fishes of the southeastern United States. J. Protozool. 14:399–412.
Yip, S. Y., 1984. Parasites of Pleurobrachia pileus Müller (Ctenophora) from Galway Bay, Western Ireland. J. Plankton Res. 6:107–122.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Moss, A.G., Estes, A.M., Muellner, L.A., Morgan, D.D. (2001). Protistan epibionts of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis mccradyi Mayer. In: Purcell, J.E., Graham, W.M., Dumont, H.J. (eds) Jellyfish Blooms: Ecological and Societal Importance. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 155. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0722-1_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0722-1_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-3835-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0722-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive