Fig. 5

Relative abundance of 16S rRNA bacterial phylotypes, recovered from Ostiactis pearseae and comparison samples. a Relative abundance of bacterial families from Ostiactis pearseae from the Pescadero Basin vents, compared to neighboring Anthozoa, including unidentified zoanthids (“zoan”) and Kadosactinidae “sp. B,” nearby obligate vent tubeworms Riftia pachyptila and Oasisia aff. alvinae, and seawater. Each color on the graph represents a distinct family-level phylotype or lowest level available. The top 15 dominant family phylotypes are indicated in the key. b Six distinct SUP05 OTUs (99% 16S rRNA sequence similarity) recovered from O. pearseae, compared to the surrounding seawater. The heatmap scale reflects the number of reads per sample. Phylogenetic relationships between the SUP05 OTUs are shown in Additional file 3: Fig. S1. c Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination of microbial communities associated with O. pearseae, versus the other neighboring species and overlying seawater. Each point represents all 16S rRNA sequences recovered from a single specimen or sample. ANOSIM p < 0.022, suggesting a significant difference between O. pearseae and any other sample set (ex. other sea anemones, water samples; R = 0.88–1.00). HTV, hydrothermal vent; spB, another undescribed sea anemone (Kadosactinidae ‘sp.B’) from the Pescadero Basin; zoan, unidentified zoanthids from the Pescadero Basin