Investigating densities of Symbiodiniaceae in two species of Antipatharians (black corals) from Madagascar

Here, we report a new broad approach to investigating the presence and density of Symbiodiniaceae cells in corals of the order Antipatharia subclass Hexacorallia, commonly known as black corals. Antipatharians are understudied ecosystem engineers of shallow (<30 m depth), mesophotic (30–150 m) and deep-sea (>200 m) reefs. They provide habitat to numerous organisms, enhancing and supporting coral reef biodiversity globally. Nonetheless, little biological and ecological information exists on antipatharians, including the extent to which global change disturbances are threatening their health. The previous assumption that they were exempted from threats related to the phenomenon known as bleaching was challenged by the recent findings of high densities of dinoflagellates within three antipatharian colonies. Further studies were thus necessary to investigate the broader uniformity of these findings. Here we report results of an integrated methodology combining microscopy and molecular techniques to investigate the presence and estimate the density of Symbiodiniaceae cells within two antipatharians species—Cupressopathes abies and Stichopathes maldivensis—from both shallow and mesophotic reefs of SW Madagascar. We found that Symbiodiniaceae-like cells were present within samples of both species collected from both shallow and mesophotic reefs, although the overall cell density was very low (0–4 cell mm−3). These findings suggest that presence or high abundance of Symbiodiniaceae is not characteristic of all antipatharians, which is relevant considering the bleaching phenomenon affecting other corals. However, the possibility of higher densities of dinoflagellates in other antipatharians or in colonies exposed to higher light irradiance deserves further investigation.