Susceptibility to Heavy Metals and Characterization of Heterotrophic Bacteria Isolated from Two Hydrothermal Vent Polychaete Annelids, Alvinella pompejana and Alvinella caudata.

Specimens of alvinellid polychaetes and their tubes were collected in the Parigo hydrothermal vent field on the East Pacific Rise (13 degrees N) in October and November 1987. Heterotrophic bacterial strains were isolated on metal-amended media from the tube and dorsal integument of one specimen of Alvinella pompejana, from the dorsal integument of another from the whole integument of a specimen of Alvinella caudata, and from undetermined alvinellid tubes. The strains were characterized and tested for susceptibility to five heavy metals by using a microdilution method for MIC determinations. All strains were gram-negative rods. Most of them were characterized by the ability to degrade Tween 80 and gelatin and to produce hydrogen sulfide from cysteine. Numerous strains, from all sample origins, displayed resistance to cadmium, zinc, arsenate, and silver and tolerated high amounts of copper. Metal resistance was exhibited by 92.3% of the total isolates. The occurrence of multiply resistant bacteria may demonstrate an adaptation of alvinellid-associated microflora to the general enrichment of metals in the hydrothermal vent environment.