Data from: Ontogenetic variation in epibiont community structure in the deep-sea yeti crab, Kiwa puravida: convergence among crustaceans

Recent investigations have demonstrated that unusually ‘hairy’ yeti crabs
within the family Kiwaidae associate with two predominant filamentous
bacterial families, the Epsilon and Gammaproteobacteria. These analyses,
however, were based on samples collected from a single body region, the
setae of pereopods. To more thoroughly investigate the microbiome
associated with Kiwa puravida, a yeti crab species from Costa Rica, we
utilized barcoded 16S rRNA amplicon pyrosequencing, as well as microscopy
and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Results
indicate that, indeed, the bacterial community on the pereopods is far
less diverse than on the rest of the body (Shannon indices ranged from
1.30–2.02 and 2.22–2.66, respectively). Similarly, the bacterial
communities associated with juveniles and adults were more complex than
previously recognized, with as many as 46 bacterial families represented.
Ontogenetic differences in the microbial community, from egg to juvenile
to adult, included a dramatic under-representation of the
Helicobacteraceae and higher abundances of both Thiotrichaceae and
Methylococcaceae for the eggs, which paralleled patterns observed in
another bacteria–crustacean symbiosis. The degree to which abiotic and
biotic feedbacks influence the bacterial community on the crabs is still
not known, but predictions suggest that both the local environment and
host-derived factors influence the establishment and maintenance of
microbes associated with the surfaces of aquatic animals.