Nutritional Condition of a shallow-water vestimentiferan tube-worm

本文对鹿儿岛湾80-100 m水深的一种浅水性管虫--温州板臂虫（Lamellibrachia samsuma）进行了研究，以阐明其微分布和营养状况。（实地观察）第一作者使用深海潜水器“Shinkai 2000”对管虫活动区的南半部进行了观察。在一个大约100 × 200米的禁区内，有几个大的和无数个小的类似蝗虫的聚集体。为了了解田间生长情况，尝试了使用蓝色染料的试管染色实验。然而，这是不成功的，因为厚沉积的内部海湾领域。（营养条件）通过常规水质分析，检测了公共水族馆中饲养的管虫标本对硫化氢的吸收。为了阐明该物种的自然营养状况，我们分析了硫同位素组成。与其它深海热液喷口系统（0 ~+5）相比，该气田喷出的火山气体硫化物含量较高（三角洲34 S为+17 ‰）。而鹿儿岛湾管虫体则是由很轻的硫化物（~ 30）组成。鹿儿岛湾管虫利用硫化氢的生产过程很可能是独一无二的，与其他深海喷口系统不同。

Lamellibrachia satsuma, a shallow water vestimentiferan tube-worm, living in Kagoshima Bay at depths of 80-100 m was studied to elucidate its micro-distribution and nutritional condition.(Field observation) The southern half of tube-worm site was observed using the deep-sea submersible Shinkai 2000 by the first author. There were a few large and numerous small bush-like assemblages in a restricted area of about 100 x 200 meters. To know the growth in the field, a staining experiment of tubes using a blue dye was tried. It was, however not successful because of thick sedimentation of this inner bay field.(Nutritional condition) The uptake of hydrogen sulfide was detected in rearing tube-worm specimens in a public aquarium by a routine water-quality analysis. To elucidate the natural nutritional condition of the species, we analyze the sulfur isotopic components. In the field, the emitted volcanic gas contains rather heavy sulfide (+17 per thousand in delta 34S) compared with other deep-sea hydro-thermal vent systems (0 to +5). The body of tube-worms from Kagoshima Bay, however was composed by very light sulfide (-30). It is highly possible that the production process of hydrogen sulfide used by tube-worms may be unique in Kagoshima Bay and not same as in other deep-sea vent systems.