HYANNIS – With May already here, vernal pools are filling with masses of eggs of spotted salamanders attached to vegetation or branches.
And while they may appear to be nothing more than black dots, those salamander embryos are not alone.
Once their eggs are laid, each individual embryo can be seen developing along with a green algal partner.
The salamander egg itself provides a hospitable and nitrogen-rich environment for the algae to grow, while the algae oxygenate the embryo through photosynthesis.
The algae apparently are crucial to the salamander’s development because eggs found without them often show deformities once hatched.
Scientists are still unsure of the precise extent of the symbiotic relationship, although the algae found inside the gut of the embryo suggest that its purpose may be for processing nutrients.
It’s theorized that the algae are being passed to the embryo through a combination of algae in the egg’s environment as well as from generation to generation through reproduction.
These algal relationships have previously only been noted among invertebrates, making this the first vertebrate-to-algae symbiosis of its kind.
The special partnership opens the door for further studies between cell-to-cell exchanges.
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