A tubular protozoan predator: a burrow selectively filled with tubular agglutinated protozoans (Xenophyophorea, Foraminifera) in the abyssal South China Sea
We report the occurrence of an unusual agglutinated protozoan-filled burrow recovered in a box core
collected in 1998 from a depth of 2496 m in the South China Sea. The onion-shaped burrow
occurring some 8 cm beneath the sediment surface was packed full with specimens of
xenophyophoreans and foraminifera dominated by a single genus (Aschemonella) that had been living
on the surface of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo ash layer. This selective scavenging of epibenthic tubular
agglutinated protozoans contributes to the patchiness of the benthic fauna on the sea floor. Because
the tubular protozoans selectively agglutinate mafic mineral grains from the volcanic ash, two levels
of biological scavenging are involved with the redistribution of these volcanic grains
