Janua brasiliensis

The importance of marine biofilms for settlement of polychaete larvae has long been recognized. The spirorbid Janua brasiliensis releases larvae that show strong preferences for settlement on the green alga Ulva lobata. However, experimental evidence demonstrated that microbial films growing specifically on the surfaces of U. lobata contain the inductive cue for larval settlement of... 

Definitive chemical analyses of the nature of compounds produced by biofilm bacteria that induce settlement and metamorphosis of invertebrates are generally lacking. Peptides, supposedly arising from biofilm bacteria and having the capacity to induce settlement of oyster larvae, were described by Zimmer-Faust and Tamburri18 (discussed above in Section III.C). Studies of larval settlement in the spirorbid polychaete Janua brasiliensis have indicated that its alga-specific settlement is, in fact, mediated by carbohydrate moieties of the exopolymers of biofilm bacteria.173... 

Kirchman, D., Graham, S., Reish, D., and Mitchell, R., Bacteria induce settlement and metamorphosis of Janua (Dexiospira) brasiliensis Grube (Polychaeta Spirorbidae), J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 56, 153, 1982. 

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