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Survival of free-living and symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) in coral reefs is critical to the maintenance of a healthy coral community. Most coral reefs exist in oligotrophic waters, and their survival strategy in such nutrient-depleted waters remains largely unknown. In this study, we found that two strains ofSymbiodinium spp. cultured from the environment and acquired from the tissues of the coralAlveopora japonica had the ability to feed heterotrophically.Symbiodinium spp. fed on heterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria (Synechococcus spp.), and small microalgae in both nutrient-replete and nutrient-depleted conditions. Cultured free-livingSymbiodinium spp. displayed no autotrophic growth under nitrogen-depleted conditions, but grew when provided with prey. Our results indicate thatSymbiodinium spp.’s mixotrophic activity greatly increases their chance of survival and their population growth under nitrogen-depleted conditions, which tend to prevail in coral habitats. In particular, free-livingSymbiodinium cells acquired considerable nitrogen from algal prey, comparable to or greater than the direct uptake of ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, or urea. In addition, free-livingSymbiodinium spp. can be a sink for planktonic cyanobacteria (Synechococcus spp.) and remove substantial portions ofSynechococcus populations from coral reef waters. Our discovery ofSymbiodinium ’s feeding alters our conventional views of the survival strategies of photosyntheticSymbiodinium and corals.

Heterotrophic feeding as a newly identified survival strategy of the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium