Consumption of bacteria by larvae of a deep-sea polychaete

摘要

We investigated whether trochophore larvae of the polychaete Hesiocaeca meth-anicola, which lives on exposed ice-like methane hydrates between 500 and 600 m, could consume near-bottom picoplankton. In laboratory trials larvae significantly reduced the growth rates of all types of picoplankton, including heterotrophic bacteria, Prochlorococcus sp., Synechococcus-type cyanobacteria and phototrophic eucaryotes < 3 μm. Our findings suggest that these types of plankton may be important food sources for deep-sea planktotrophic larvae.