An unusual symbiont from the gut of surgeonfishes may be the largest known prokaryote

Abstract

Symbionts first reported from the gut of a Red Sea surgeonfish, Acanthurus nigrofuscus (family Acanthuridae), were subsequently described as Epulopiscium fishelsoni. The taxonomic position of this very large (up to 576 microns in length) microorganism has previously been designated in the literature as either uncertain or eukaryotic. We suggest that similar symbionts from Great Barrier Reef surgeonfish may be prokaryotes, which together with E. fishelsoni from the Red Sea may represent the largest known forms of this cell type. Features identifying the symbionts as prokaryotes include the presence of bacterial-type flagella and a bacterial nucleoid and the absence of a nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelle.