Cultivation mutualism between a deep-sea vent galatheid crab and its chemosynthetic epibionts

Since the discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977, chemosynthesis-based ecosystems have been found in a wide range of habitats, such as hydrocarbon seeps, coastal sediments and terrestrial caves. Several invertebrates found in dark ecosystems harbor chemosynthetic bacteria (epibionts) on the surfaces of their specialised tissues; in particular, a vent galatheid crab Shinkaia crosnieri consumes the epibionts thriving on their setae as the primary nutritional source. In this study, we found that the water stream is the key to the nutritional symbiosis between S. crosnieri and chemosynthetic epibionts. The chemosynthetic functions of epibionts were highly activated by the water flow, and observations in the laboratory supported rheotaxis by S. crosnieri. In addition, endogenous water flow generated by respiratory water ventilation of S. crosnieri stimulated the chemosynthetic activity of epibionts under static conditions. These results point out that the epibionts are cultivated by the active behaviors of S. crosnieri, potentially representing the first example of a cultivation mutualism in chemosynthetic ectosymbiosis.