Crustaceans Are Helping Seaweeds Reproduce; Pollination Has Evolved Through the Oceans

Since this is the first instance in which an animal has assisted an algal population in reproducing, it is possible that pollination originated in the world's early waters.

There is a new pollinator on Earth, and it lives in the sea, so move over, birds and bees.

Crustaceans as The Bees of the Seas

(Photo : Jay Gomez/Unsplash)

In a study that was published on Thursday in the journal Science, researchers discovered that Idotea balthica, a tiny crustacean, served as the pollinator for a particular kind of seaweed.

As they wander from frond to frond in search of food and refuge, they unintentionally acquire the sticky spermatia, the algae's kind of pollen, on their bodies and scatter it throughout.

It has never before been documented that an animal fertilizes algae.

This finding not only broadens the range of animals that employ this reproductive technique, but also raises the question of whether it originated in the sea or on land.

Animals were long believed to be limited to pollinating plants on land. But in 2016, researchers learned that the Caribbean seagrass species, Thalassia testudinum, is pollinated by zooplankton, as per The New York Times.

The only blooming plants that can be found in marine habitats are sea grasses, which are nonetheless closely linked to terrestrial plants.

While legally considered plants, seaweeds are not closely related to terrestrial plants.

The fact that animals fertilized Thalassia testudinum was discovered after researchers noted an extremely high density of marine crustaceans visiting seagrass blooms.

Myriam Valero, a population geneticist at the Sorbonne University in France, noticed something similar happening among the red algae she was researching not long after this discovery.

Gracilaria gracilis, the type of seaweed she was researching, had a reputation among invertebrates, particularly the isopod Idotea balthica.

Valero questioned whether the isopods might be aiding in the dissemination of the spermatia because Gracilaria gracilis produces spermatia that, like pollen grains, are incapable of moving on their own.

Previous research revealed that the spermatia of Gracilaria gracilis were distributed by ocean currents, but Valero assumed another dispersal mechanism was at work given their prevalence in quiet coastal rock pools.

In a later experiment, the scientists moved crustaceans that had previously resided in aquariums containing reproducing male Gracilaria gracilis to aquariums containing unfertilized female algae.

They discovered that doing so also led to significant amounts of fertilization.

They used a microscope to inspect the isopods and discovered that almost every aspect of them was covered in spermatia.

The isopods and the seaweed, according to the researchers, have a mutualistic relationship. The algae offer shelter and food to the isopods in the form of a species of microalgae that flourish on its surface.

The isopods assist the algae to reproduce in return.

Also Read: 'Bees' Found Living Deep Under the Ocean

What are Crustaceans?

Crustacean is a family of about 45,000 species of invertebrate animals found all over the world.

The most well-known crustaceans are crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and woodlice, but the group also includes a huge range of other species with less well-known names.

In contrast to other arthropods, crustaceans are often aquatic and have two pairs of appendages (antennules and antennae) in front of the mouth as well as paired appendages that serve as jaws close to the mouth, as per Britannica.

The majority of crustaceans are found in water.

Inland brines, which may have many times the salt content of saltwater, as well as freshwater, seawater, and other environments all include different species.

In the watery environment, several species have filled practically every imaginable habitat.

The open waters of lakes and oceans are home to a great variety of free-swimming (planktonic) animals.

Other creatures can either crawl over the sediment or burrow into it as they live at the ocean's bottom.

The largest species of crustaceans, primarily decapods, are those that are most obviously significant to humans.

The king crab (Paralithodes) of the northern Pacific and its southern cousin, the centolla, located off the coast of Chile, are caught by fishermen in many different places of the world.

Many varieties of genuine crabs, including the blue crab, stone crab, and Dungeness crab, all found in North America, as well as the edible crab found in Europe, are important food sources.