Chemosynthetic symbioses between bacteria and marine invertebrates were discovered 30
years ago at hydrothermal vents on the Galapagos Rift. Remarkably, it took the discovery of …

Deep-sea ecosystems represent the largest biome of the global biosphere, but knowledge of
their biodiversity is still scant. The Mediterranean basin has been proposed as a hot spot of …

Molluscs comprise the second largest phylum of animals (after arthropods), occurring in
virtually all habitats. Some are commercially important, a few are pests and some carry …

Until recently, the deep continental margins (200–4,000 m) were perceived as monotonous
mud slopes of limited ecological or environmental concern. Progress in seafloor mapping …

The resident microbiota of three oyster species (Crassostrea corteziensis, Crassostrea gigas
and Crassostrea sikamea) was characterised using a high-throughput sequencing approach …

Large organic food falls to the deep sea–such as whale carcasses and wood logs–are
known to serve as stepping stones for the dispersal of highly adapted chemosynthetic …

Continental margins, where land becomes ocean and plunges to the deep sea, provide
valuable food and energy resources, and perform essential functions such as carbon burial …

Host-microbe interactions play crucial roles in marine ecosystems. However, we still have
very little understanding of the mechanisms that govern these relationships, the evolutionary …

Although the remarkable chemosymbiosis between bivalve molluscs and sulphide-and
methane-oxidizing bacteria was originally recognized in a few species of spectacular, large …

Sponges host a remarkable diversity of microbial symbionts, however, the benefit their
microbes provide is rarely understood. Here, we describe two new sponge species from …