First documented record of a living solemyid bivalve in a pockmark of the Nile Deep-sea Fan (eastern Mediterranean Sea)

A living specimen of a solemyid bivalve was collected at bathyal depths near a pockmark in the Nile Deep-sea Fan (eastern Mediterranean) and is here presented. Both taxonomic and molecular results suggest a Solemya species but due to the small size of the animal and the lack of molecular data for other solemyid species the species cannot be determined. This is the first record of a living solemyid from deep-sea cold seeps in the Mediterranean Basin.FCT - SFRH/ BPD/64154/2009ANR DEEP-OASES - ANRO6BDV005CHEMECO ESF EURODEEPMPG-CNRS-GDRE - DIWOO

Geology of the area of Embalse Las Maderas, Jujuy Province, with a note on the Tremadocian-Floian bioclastic-phosphatic accumu-lations

Se describe la geología del área del Embalse Las Maderas, Provincia de Jujuy, correspondiente a la Cordillera Oriental. La sucesión expuesta corresponde al basamento metamórfico del noroeste (Complejo Puncoviscana), y a las sedimentitas marinas del Paleozoi-co inferior (Grupos Mesón y Santa Victoria), aflorantes en las sierras que flanquean al embalse. Además se registra la presencia de conglomerados sinorogénicos del Cenozoico (Formación Piquete, correspondiente al Grupo Jujuy, y Formación La Troja), localizados en las depresiones intermontanas. La estructura se caracteriza por la presencia de pliegues volcados asociados a corrimientos que se desarrollan sobre las metasedimentitas de bajo grado del basamento; corresponde a un estilo estructural de piel gruesa, con pliegues de flexión de falla con vergencia oriental y occidental segmentados por fallas paralelas. Se estudiaron con especial énfasis las rocas fosfáticas contenidas en el Grupo Santa Victoria. Su origen no se asocia a un intervalo de fosfogénesis sensu-stricto, sino al retrabajo sedimentario de partículas fosfáticas biogénicas. Se diferenciaron estratos con alta concentración de bioclastos dominados por res-tos de braquiópodos linguliformes (de alto contenido fosfático) de la Formación Floresta que se clasifican como phosbio-grainstones y phosbio-rudstones, y otros de baja concentración con una proporción significativa de restos de braquiópodos rinconelliformes y trilobites además de braquiópodos linguliformes (de bajo contenido fosfático) en las Formaciones Áspero y San Bernardo, que se clasifican como biophosbio-rudstones.The geology of the embalse Las Maderas area, Jujuy Province in the Cordillera Oriental (Eastern Andean Cordillera) of Argentina is described. The exposed succession corresponds to the metamorphic basement of northwestern Argentina (Puncoviscana Complex) and the marine sedimentary rocks of the lower Paleozoic (Mesón and Santa Victoria Groups), cropping out in the hills around the reservoir. Cenozoic synorogenic conglomerates of the Piquete Formation (Jujuy Group) and The La Troja Formation are located in the intermontane lowlands. The structure is characterized by overturned folds associated with thrusts developed on the low-grade metasedimentary rocks of the basement, consistent with a thick-skin structural style, with East vergent fault flexured folds cut by pa-rallel oriented faults. Phosphatic rocks of the Santa Victoria Group were studied in detail. Their origin is associated to the sedimentary reworking of biogenic particles and it is not constrained to a phosphogenic interval sensu stricto. Beds with high phosphate content and high concentration of linguliform bioclasts of the Floresta Formation were classified as phosbio-grainstones and phosbio-rudsto-nes. Other beds with lower phosphate content in the Áspero and San Bernardo Formations incorporated a significant proportion of rhynchonelliform brachiopods and trilobites together with the linguliform brachiopods, and were classified as biophosbio-rudstones.Fil: Duperron, Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Scasso, Roberto Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Moya, Maria Cristina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Consejo de Investigacion; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

An overview of chemosynthetic symbioses in bivalves from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea

Deep-sea bivalves found at hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and organic falls are sustained by chemosynthetic bacteria that ensure part or all of their carbon nutrition. These symbioses are of prime importance for the functioning of the ecosystems. Similar symbioses occur in other bivalve species living in shallow and coastal reduced habitats worldwide. In recent years, several deep-sea species have been investigated from continental margins around Europe, West Africa, eastern Americas, the Gulf of Mexico, and from hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In parallel, numerous, more easily accessible shallow marine species have been studied. Herein we provide a summary of the current knowledge available on chemosymbiotic bivalves in the area ranging west-to-east from the Gulf of Mexico to the Sea of Marmara, and north-to-south from the Arctic to the Gulf of Guinea. Characteristics of symbioses in 53 species from the area are summarized for each of the five bivalve families documented to harbor chemosynthetic symbionts (Mytilidae, Vesicomyidae, Solemyidae, Thyasiridae and Lucinidae). Comparisons are made between the families, with special emphasis on ecology, life cycle, and connectivity. Chemosynthetic symbioses are a major adaptation to ecosystems and habitats exposed to reducing conditions. However, relatively little is known regarding their diversity and functioning, apart from a few “model species” on which effort has focused over the last 30 yr. In the context of increasing concern about biodiversity and ecosystems, and increasing anthropogenic pressure on oceans, we advocate a better assessment of the diversity of bivalve symbioses in order to evaluate the capacities of these remarkable ecological and evolutionary units to withstand environmental change

Influence of chemosynthetic substrates availability on symbiont densities, carbon assimilation and transfer in the dual symbiotic vent mussel <I>Bathymodiolus azoricus</I>

International audienceHigh densities of mussels of the genus Bathymodiolus are present at hydrothermal vents of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was already proposed that the chemistry at vent sites would affect their sulphide- and methane-oxidizing endosymbionts' abundance. In this study, we confirmed the latter assumption using fluorescence in situ hybridization on Bathymodiolus azoricus specimens maintained in a controlled laboratory environment at atmospheric pressure with one, both or none of the chemical substrates. A high level of symbiosis plasticity was observed, methane-oxidizers occupying between 4 and 39% of total bacterial area and both symbionts developing accordingly to the presence or absence of their substrates. Using H13CO3- in the presence of sulphide, 13CH4 or 13CH3OH, we monitored carbon assimilation by the endosymbionts and its translocation to symbiont-free mussel tissues. Although no significant carbon assimilation could be evidenced with methanol, carbon was incorporated from methane and sulphide-oxidized inorganic carbon at rates 3 to 10 times slower in the host muscle tissue than in the symbiont-containing gill tissue. Both symbionts thus contribute actively to B. azoricus nutrition and adapt to the availability of their substrates. Further experiments with varying substrate concentrations using the same set-up should provide useful tools to study and even model the effects of changes in hydrothermal fluids on B. azoricus' chemosynthetic nutrition

Six-beam homodyne laser Doppler vibrometry based on silicon photonics technology

This paper describes an integrated six-beam homodyne laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) system based on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) full platform technology, with on-chip photo-diodes and phase modulators. Electronics and optics are also implemented around the integrated photonic circuit (PIC) to enable a simultaneous six-beam measurement. Measurement of a propagating guided elastic wave in an aluminum plate (speed ≈≈ 909 m/s @ 61.5 kHz) is demonstrated

Widespread occurrence of an intranuclear bacterial parasite in vent and seep bathymodiolin mussels

Many parasitic bacteria live in the cytoplasm of multicellular animals, but only a few are known to regularly invade their nuclei. In this study, we describe the novel bacterial parasite "Candidatus Endonucleobacter bathymodioli" that invades the nuclei of deep-sea bathymodiolin mussels from hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Bathymodiolin mussels are well known for their symbiotic associations with sulfur- and methane-oxidizing bacteria. In contrast, the parasitic bacteria of vent and seep animals have received little attention despite their potential importance for deep-sea ecosystems. We first discovered the intranuclear parasite "Ca. E. bathymodioli" in Bathymodiolus puteoserpentis from the Logatchev hydrothermal vent field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Using primers and probes specific to "Ca. E. bathymodioli" we found this intranuclear parasite in at least six other bathymodiolin species from vents and seeps around the world. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and transmission electron microscopy analyses of the developmental cycle of "Ca. E. bathymodioli" showed that the infection of a nucleus begins with a single rod-shaped bacterium which grows to an unseptated filament of up to 20 μm length and then divides repeatedly until the nucleus is filled with up to 80 000 bacteria. The greatly swollen nucleus destroys its host cell and the bacteria are released after the nuclear membrane bursts. Intriguingly, the only nuclei that were never infected by "Ca. E. bathymodioli" were those of the gill bacteriocytes. These cells contain the symbiotic sulfur- and methane-oxidizing bacteria, suggesting that the mussel symbionts can protect their host nuclei against the parasite. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the "Ca. E. bathymodioli" belongs to a monophyletic clade of Gammaproteobacteria associated with marine metazoans as diverse as sponges, corals, bivalves, gastropods, echinoderms, ascidians and fish. We hypothesize that many of the sequences from this clade originated from intranuclear bacteria, and that these are widespread in marine invertebrates

Microbial diversity associated with the hydrothermal shrimp Rimicaris exoculata gut and occurrence of a resident microbial community

En libre-accès sur Archimer : http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/11142/7919.pdfInternational audienceRimicaris exoculata dominates the megafauna of several Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal sites. Its gut is full of sulphides and iron-oxide particles and harbours microbial communities. Although a trophic symbiosis has been suggested, their role remains unclear. In vivo starvation experiments in pressurized vessels were performed on shrimps from Rainbow and Trans-Atlantic Geotraverse sites in order to expel the transient gut contents. Microbial communities associated with the gut of starved and reference shrimps were compared using 16S rRNA gene libraries and microscopic observations (light, transmission and scanning electron microscopy and FISH analyses). We show that the gut microbiota of shrimps from both sites included mainly Deferribacteres, Mollicutes, Epsilon- and Gammaproteobacteria. For the first time, we have observed filamentous bacteria, inserted between microvilli of gut epithelial cells. They remained after starvation periods in empty guts, suggesting the occurrence of a resident microbial community. The bacterial community composition was the same regardless of the site, except for Gammaproteobacteria retrieved only in Rainbow specimens. We observed a shift in the composition of the microbiota of long-starved specimens, from the dominance of Deferribacteres to the dominance of Gammaproteobacteria. These results reinforce the hypothesis of a symbiotic relationship between R. exoculata and its gut epibionts

Spinaxinus (Bivalvia: Thyasiroidea) from sulfide biogenerators in the Gulf of Mexico and hydrothermal vents in the Fiji Back Arc: Chemosymbiosis and Taxonomy

Two new species of the thyasirid genus Spinaxinus (S. emicatus Oliver n. sp. and S. phrixicus Oliver n. sp.) are described from the Gulf of Mexico and the southwest Pacific, respectively. Both are compared with the type species of the genus, the eastern Atlantic S. sentosus Oliver and Holmes, 2006. Living specimens from the Gulf of Mexico were retrieved from artificial sulfide bio-generators on the upper Louisiana Slope. Gill morphology and molecular markers from the symbiotic bacteria confirm that Spinaxinus is chemosynthetic and that the chemoautotrophic bacteria are related to sulfide oxidizing Gammaproteobacteria. Living specimens from the southwest Pacific were retrieved from hydrothermal vent sites in the Fiji and Lau Back Arc Basins. In the Atlantic Spinaxinus is now recorded from two anthropogenic situations and appears to be generally absent from natural cold seep sites and not yet recorded at any hydrothermal sites. The primarily anthropogenic distribution of Spinaxinus in the Atlantic is discussed with reference to the natural hydrothermal vent habitat of the Pacific S. phrixicus.Spinaxinus (Bivalvia: Thyasiroidea) de bio-generadores artificiales de sulfuro situados en el Golfo de Méjico y en fuentes hidrotermales de las Islas Fiji: quimiosimbiosis y taxonomía. – En este trabajo se describen dos especies nuevas de tisárido del género Spinaxinus (S. emcatus Oliver n. sp. y S. phrixicus Oliver n. sp.) encontradas res- pectivamente en el Golfo de Méjico y en el sureste del Pacífico. Se comparan estas dos especies nuevas con la especie tipo del género, S. sentous Oliver y Holmes, 2006 descrita en el Este del Atlántico. Para describir estas dos especies, se observaron ejemplares vivos recolectados sobre bio-generadores artificiales de sulfuro situados en la parte alta de la plataforma conti- nental de Louisiana, en el Golfo de Méjico. Las observaciones realizadas de las branquias de Spinaxinus y la caracterización genética de las bacterias simbiontes en estos ejemplares confirmaron que Spinaxinus es un género quimiosintético que con- tiene bacterias quimioautótrofas cercanas a las Gammaproteobacterias responsables de la oxidación del sulfuro. También se recolectaron ejemplares vivos de fuentes hidrotermales situadas en las Islas Fiji y en ‘Lau Back Arc Basins’ ambas localiza- das en el Pacífico suroccidental. La especie atlántica de Spinaxinus se encontró en dos tipos de sustratos artificiales mientras que parece que esta especie no se encuentra en ambientes naturales equivalentes como serían las surgencias frías y las fuentes hidrotermales. La distribución aparentemente limitada de la especie atlántica se discute en relación con la distribución de S. phrixicus en las fuentes hidrotermales del Pacífico

Gruissan – Saint-Martin-le-Bas

La cinquième campagne de fouille programmée sur l’établissement littoral de Saint-Martin-le-Bas à Gruissan, conduite dans le cadre du PCR « Les ports antiques de Narbonne » coordonné par C. Sanchez (CNRS, UMR 5140 ASM), s’est déroulée du 1er au 26 juin 2015. Depuis 2014, les opérations de fouille concernent deux parcelles voisines qui recèlent les vestiges d’une importante occupation se développant sans discontinuité sur plus d’un millénaire, de l’époque tardo-républicaine au Moyen Âge centra..

Vico – A Sullana, Sant’Appianu

La fouille préventive conduite du 22 août au 28 octobre 2016 sur le site d’A Sullana - Sant’Appianu à Vico (Corse-du-Sud) a apporté de nombreuses données nouvelles sur cet important établissement littoral tardo-antique, élevé au rang d’évêché au plus tard au vie s. (Istria 2016). Cette opération a en effet permis d’enrichir les connaissances sur l’occupation de la fin de l’Antiquité, en mettant au jour sur plus de 1 500 m2 un ensemble de bâtiments datant de cette période et d’étudier une part..