Abstract
The specificity of the relationship between Indo-Pacific pearlfish (family Carapidae) and their hosts, the sea cucumbers (Holothuridae), was examined in Okinawa, Japan. While some species of pearlfishes lived in several species of sea cucumbers, one species, Encheliophis vermicularis, was very specific and was only found in Holothuria leucospilota. The role of natural products in this relationship was then examined in maze tests, and highly polar (water soluble) substances in the coelomic fluid, body wall, and Cuvierian tubules of H. leucospilota were found to attract the pearlfish. Coelomic extracts were active at low concentrations and holothurins A and B found within these extracts were implicated as the active factors in maze tests. The possible role of these products in other symbiotic relationships between pearlfishes and sea cucumbers, some of which seem species-specific, now needs to be examined.
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Acknowledgments
This manuscript is based on an undergraduate thesis by the first author, who passed away 2 years after this work was completed. Although the corresponding author felt that accumulation of more data on this work was needed, the study did not move forward over the following years. As there have been no other reports on the identification of saponins as chemoattractants in pearlfish, we believe that these data are still worthy of publication 25 years after the original work. The authors thank the journal for publishing this work and for their understanding with this long overdue report.
The authors thank Dr. T. Yoshino, for the identification of the pearlfishes, Prof. I. Kitagawa and M. Kobayashi, Osaka University, for the gift of authentic holothurins A and B, Prof. T. Higa, University of the Ryukyus, for discussion and revision of the manuscript, and confidential reviewers who gave very positive and helpful comments.
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Miyazaki, S., Ichiba, T., Reimer, J.D. et al. Chemoattraction of the pearlfish Encheliophis vermicularis to the sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota . Chemoecology 24, 121–126 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-014-0152-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-014-0152-7