Unveiling the Microeukaryotic Landscape of the Red Coral Corallium rubrum Across the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea.

ABSTRACT: Octocorals such as Corallium rubrum are key components of temperate Marine Animal Forests (MAFs), providing three-dimensional habitats that support diverse marine life. However, C. rubrum faces growing threats from overexploitation and climate stressors such as ocean warming. While the coral's bacterial microbiome is well-documented and stable across spatial and temporal scales, the associated microeukaryotes, collectively referred to as the coral eukaryome, remain poorly characterised. In this study, we used 18S rRNA gene metabarcoding to explore the eukaryome of 46 C. rubrum colonies collected from five sites (~44,670 km²) in the northwestern Mediterranean. We identified a limited set of core microeukaryotic families, including Licnophoridae and Dino-Group I Clade 1, which wer

SUBMITTER: Prioux C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12645308 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature