(Table 1) Composition of organic matter in bottom sediments and in digestive tract contents of holothurians@en

Previously obtained data on sharp enrichment with organic matter (OM) of intestinal tract contents and on enrichment of OM itself with fraction of lipid-like substances, namely bitumoids, having been confirmed. It has been shown that distribution of n-paraffins, including their ratio of odd and even series (?/?), is the same for all animals in all sections of the intestinal tract and does not depend on their distribution in sediments (the 0/E ratio in the intestinal tract is equal to 1+/-0.01, and the 0/E ratio in sediments is equal to 1.08-1.54). Hence, it follows that holothurians are able to select food, which chemical composition differs sharply from the average chemical composition of OM present in sediments. This fact can be attributed only to consumption of products formed by reprocessing of OM (supplied to the bottom) by bottom microorganisms, or to consumption of microorganisms themselves.此前获取的关于肠道内容物显著富含有机质（OM），以及有机质自身富集类脂物质（lipid-like substances）组分（即bitumoids）的相关观测数据，已得到证实。研究表明，所有海参个体肠道各段内的正构烷烃（n-paraffins）分布特征（包括其奇偶系列碳数比(?/?)）均保持一致，且不受沉积物中正构烷烃分布的影响：肠道内的o/e比值为1±0.01，而沉积物中的o/e比值介于1.08至1.54之间。由此可推知，海参（holothurians）能够选择性摄食化学成分与沉积物中有机质平均组成显著不同的食物。这一现象仅可归因于两类摄食行为：一是摄食由底栖微生物对沉降至海底的有机质进行再降解所形成的产物；二是直接摄食底栖微生物本身。