Dataset for: Characterization of the microbiome and bioluminescent symbionts across life stages of ceratioid anglerfishes of the Gulf of Mexico

We profiled the bacterial communities (“microbiomes”) and luminous symbionts of 36 specimens of adult and larval deep-sea anglerfishes of the suborder Ceratioidei using 16S rDNA as part of the DEEPEND project (deependconsortium.org) research on deep Gulf of Mexico biodiversity. It was found that bacteria in the genera Moritella and Pseudoalteromonas genera dominated whole larval microbiomes, and adult skin and gut microbiomes. It was also found from 16S rDNA sequencing results that symbionts did not constantly show host specificity and provided confirmation of the formerly published identity of ceratioid bioluminescent symbionts. Bioluminescent symbiont amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were found at all depths in the seawater, with the highest abundance found at mesopelagic depths absent from larval ceratioid samples but were absent from larval ceratioid samples. The hypothesis that bioluminescent symbionts are not present throughout host development, and that ceratioids acquire their bioluminescent symbionts from the environment was supported by findings of this study. This dataset supports the publication: Freed, L. L., Easson, C., Baker, L. J., Fenolio, D., Sutton, T. T., Khan, Y., Blackwelder, P., Hendry, T.A. & Lopez, J.V. (2019). Characterization of the microbiome and bioluminescent symbionts across life stages of ceratioid anglerfishes of the Gulf of Mexico. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. doi:10.1093/femsec/fiz146