Experimental application of vascular and coelomic catheterization to identify vascular transport mechanisms for inorganic carbon in the vent tubeworm, Riftia pachyptila

Maintaining deep sea animals in in situ conditions has always been technically difficult because of the high-pressure requirements. Even more difficult are any attempts in manipulating or sampling these organisms while keeping them alive in high-pressure aquaria. We present a technique to withdraw blood samples by vascular catheterization which allows withdrawal of samples of during maintenance of specimens under high-pressure conditions. We have developed this technique to answer a long debated question, how carbon dioxide is transported from the ambient sea water to the bacterial symbionts inside the trophosome of the hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila. Our results indicate that the carbon supply to the symbionts is mainly through inorganic CO2 while its incorporation into malate and succinate may serve storage functions at periods of low CO2 availability in the environment.