Romano Filomena, Symiakaki Katerina, Pitta Paraskevi
Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, PO Box 2214, 71003 Heraklion, Greece.
University of Copenhagen, Marine Biological Laboratory, Strandpromenaden 5, Helsingør DK-3000, Denmark.
J Plankton Res. 2022 Feb 28;44(2):333-336. doi: 10.1093/plankt/fbac012. eCollection 2022 Mar-Apr.
Ciliate conjugation is considered a rare event to encounter in the field and it is mostly reported from cultures. In this work, we describe a synchronized conjugation event of planktonic ciliates that was discovered twice; in September 2019, at two different locations in the Cretan Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, and in October 2020. In 2019, first, at 2 m depth of the coastal station POSEIDON-HCB, in samples fixed with acid Lugol and formaldehyde, we found 340 and 200 mating pairs Lof different ciliate species, respectively; and second, at the Heraklion port, we found 220 mating pairs L of sp. and 1960 mating pairs L of sp. At the Heraklion port visited again in 2020, we found 800 mating pairs L of sp. and 200 mating pairs L of sp. Since detailed descriptions of conjugation in pelagic oligotrich ciliates are missing, our observations indicate that ciliate conjugation could be a frequent and periodic phenomenon, under specific conditions.
纤毛虫接合被认为是在野外很难遇到的事件，大多是在培养物中被报道。在这项研究中，我们描述了浮游纤毛虫的一次同步接合事件，该事件被发现了两次；一次是在2019年9月，于东地中海克里特海的两个不同地点，另一次是在2020年10月。2019年，首先，在沿海站点波塞冬 - HCB 2米深处，在用酸性卢戈尔液和甲醛固定的样本中，我们分别发现了340对和200对不同纤毛虫物种的交配对；其次，在伊拉克利翁港，我们发现了220对 种的交配对和1960对 种的交配对。2020年再次访问伊拉克利翁港时，我们发现了800对 种的交配对和200对 种的交配对。由于目前缺少对远洋寡毛类纤毛虫接合的详细描述，我们的观察表明，在特定条件下，纤毛虫接合可能是一种频繁且周期性的现象。
