Iron-encrusted diatoms and bacteria epibiotic on Hydrobia ulvae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia)

Rust-coloured shells of the gastropod Hydrobia ulvae collected in the Wadden Sea near Texel and in the Jade Busen were analysed under the scanning electron microscope. Most of the shells were found to be covered with a microbial community encrusted with an iron-rich mineral containing traces of Mn, Mg, Ca and Si (EDAX analysis). The community formed a biofilm including two morphotypes of diatoms identified as Cocconeis placentula and Achnanthes lemmermanni, two morphotypes of slender filamentous bacteria resembling Leucothrix and Flexibacter, aggregates of coccoid cells and large trichomes resembling members of the cyanobacterial orders Pleurocapsales and Stigonematales, respectively. The most frequent microorganisms of the biofilm were diatoms and filamentous bacteria.