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Dressing up for the deep: agglutinated protists adorn an irregular urchin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2001

Lisa A. Levin
Affiliation:
Marine Life Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California 92093-0218, USA
Andrew J. Gooday
Affiliation:
Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, Southampton, SO14 3ZH
David W. James
Affiliation:
Marine Life Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California 92093-0218, USA

Abstract

A specimen of the deep-water, spatangoid urchin, Cystochinus loveni, wearing a costume of agglutinated protists, was collected from 3088 m in the Gulf of Alaska, north-east Pacific. Over 24 putative taxa of living and dead foraminiferans and xenophyophores, as well as a sipunculan, polychaete, tanaid, and two isopods, were collected from the dorsal surface of this single individual. This is the first report of a deep-sea urchin using rhizopod protists and it is proposed that the urchin acquires camouflage or benefits from increased specific gravity associated with the protistan cloak.

Type
Short Communications
Copyright
2001 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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