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The Korean Society of Phycology (한국조류학회(藻類))
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Potential for artificial symbiosis between marine microalgae and invertebrates: II. survival of marine mollusks with the transplanted dinoflagellate Effrenium voratum (Symbiodiniaceae)

  • Ji Hyun You (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Hae Jin Jeong (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Sang Ah Park (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Se Hee Eom (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Hee Chang Kang (Department of Ocean Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Inha University) ;
  • Minji Kwon (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2025.04.07
  • Accepted : 2025.08.26
  • Published : 2025.09.15
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Abstract

Symbiotic relationships between marine invertebrates and microalgae are well-known in cnidarians and mollusks, such as jellyfish, hydroids, and nudibranchs. To explore physiological compatibility between other mollusk species and microalgae, we injected the free-living (FL) strain of the dinoflagellate Effrenium voratum into the body of the cephalopod Octopus minor, nudibranchs Chromodoris orientalis and Dendrodoris fumata, sea snails Nassarius sp., Tectus fenestratus, and Babylonia spirata, and abalone Haliotis discus hannai and monitored the survival of these mollusks and transplanted microalga for 7 d. The transplanted E. voratum (FL) survived for 7 d inside the bodies of all mollusks except H. discus hannai. In additional experiments, the transplanted E. voratum (FL) survived for 25 and 17 d inside the bodies of C. orientalis and O. minor, respectively, until the mollusks died. Therefore, the results obtained in this study suggest that the nudibranch and cephalopod explored herein have the potential for physiological compatibility with microalgae. These findings represent an initial step toward evaluating symbiotic compatibility in novel host-symbiont systems.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (20230018) and the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (RS-2021-NR058847; RS-2021-NR057869; RS-2023-00291696) award to HJJ and the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education (RS-2024-00452214) award to JHY.

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