Depth profile of Aplysina ssp.: morphological, histological and biochemical aspects and their role in species distinctio
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Depth profile of Aplysina ssp.: morphological, histological and biochemical aspects and their role in species distinction Anne Klöppel & Annika Putz & Martin Pfannkuchen & Gisela Fritz & Andrej Jaklin & Peter Proksch & Franz Brümmer
Received: 19 January 2009 / Revised: 27 March 2009 / Accepted: 30 March 2009 / Published online: 3 June 2009 # Senckenberg Gesellschaft fuer Naturforschung and Springer 2009
Abstract In the Mediterranean Sea, two species of the genus Aplysina Nardo, 1834 (Demospongiae, Verongida, Aplysinidae) co-occur, both described by Schmidt in 1862. The first one was named Aplysina aerophoba (formerly Verongia aerophoba) due to the change of its bright yellow pigment uranidine to dark blue when exposed to air. The second one was named Aplysina cavernicola (formerly Verongia cavernicola) due to its preferred shaded habitats, e.g., caves. The definition for species differentiation was mainly based on ecological and morphological characteristics. However, as both species display a high degree of phenotypic variability, distinction solely based on morphological attributes is not suitable in all cases. In addition, differences can be found in the species-specific microbial composition of symbionts and metabolite pattern. For the first time, we report an investigation on both Aplysina species along one single transect on an underwater slope in the Adriatic Sea, and the successful species distinction using solely the different biochemical composition of metabolites. A. Klöppel : M. Pfannkuchen : G. Fritz : F. Brümmer (*) Biologisches Institut, Abteilung Zoologie, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany e-mail: [email protected] A. Putz : P. Proksch Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie und Biotechnologie, Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse 1, Geb. 26.23, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany A. Jaklin Center for Marine Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute, G. Paliaga 5, 52210 Rovinj, Croatia
Keywords Aplysina spp. . Depth profile . Phenotypic variability . Chemical ecology . Secondary metabolites . Aerophobin
Introduction In the Mediterranean Sea, two species of the genus Aplysina Nardo 1834 (Demospongiae, Verongida, Aplysinidae) co-occur. Both were described by Schmidt in 1862. The first one was named Aplysina aerophoba (formerly Verongia aerophoba) due to its pigment uranidine (Cimino et al. 1984), which changes from bright yellow to dark blue when exposed to air (unstable blue quinone). Due to its preference for light-unexposed habitats, e.g., caves, the second Aplysina sponge was named Aplysina cavernicola (formerly Verongia cavernicola). In 1959, Vacelet published a definition for the distinction of Mediterranean Aplysina sponges mainly based on morphological characteristics (Vacelet 1959). As both species display a high degree of phenotypic variability, differentiation solely based on morphological attributes is questionable (Klöppel and Brümmer 2006; Klöppel et al. 2008). Vacelet (1959) distinguished A. aerophoba and A. cavernicola by the su
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