Annie Mercier

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Memorial University of Newfoundland

Recent efforts have been devoted to the link between responses to non-physical stressors and immune states in animals, mostly using human and other vertebrate models. Despite evolutionary relevance, comparatively limited work on the appraisal of predation risk and aspects of cognitive ecology and ecoimmunology has been carried out in non-chordate a...

While the study of dispersal and connectivity in the ocean typically centres on pelagic species and planktonic larval stages of benthic species, the present work explores an overlooked locomotor means in post‐settlement benthic stages that redefines their dispersal potential. Members of the echinoderm class Holothuroidea colonize a diversity of mar...

The presence of corals living in deep waters around the globe has been documented in various publications since the late 1800s, when the first research vessels set sail on multi-year voyages. Ecological research on these species, however, only truly began some 100 years later. We now know that many species of deep-sea coral provide ecosystem servic...

The expansion of harvesting efforts and the successful management of valuable echinoderm resources in new localities is heavily dependent on the ecological knowledge available. One untapped high-value species, the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa, is now being explored by some communities in northern Canada for potential fisheries. However, basic in...

Recently, the occurrence of newly settled recruits and early juveniles of the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa was described in shallow waters (depth <2.5 m) of Qikiqtait, Nunavut (northern Canada) on shells of live and dead mussels, and on the bare surfaces of stones, forming a nursery habitat. It was assumed that most young individuals (i.e. <2 y)...

Juvenile and adult sea cucumbers are integral to marine food webs across the globe. The northern species Cucumaria fron-dosa is part of the diet of sea stars, crabs, fishes, birds and mammals, including seals and walruses, across its wide geographic distribution in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. However, the trophic ecology of early juvenile...

Sea cucumbers paradoxically suffer from being both highly prized and commonly disregarded. As an Asian medicine and delicacy, they command fabulous prices and are thus overfished, poached, and trafficked. As noncharismatic animals, many are understudied and inadequately protected. Despite presenting a rich diversity of life histories, members of th...

Animal care committees remain ambiguous on the need for anesthetics during experimental procedures on invertebrate taxa due to long-standing questioning of their sentience and pain perception. When used, anesthetizing procedures for invertebrates have commonly been adapted from those developed for vertebrates, under the largely unverified assumptio...

A new species of holothuroid, Pseudothyone labradorensissp. nov. (order Dendrochirotida and family Sclerodactylidae), was discovered off the coast of Labrador (eastern Canada) at a depth of 740–969 m. Two specimens were described based on morphological and genetic parameters. Distinctive characters included pinkish body colour, presence of tube fee...

A presentation sharing snippets of my research as a MSc. student to the general public at the Johnson Geo Centre during Oceans Month.

The present study explores rare but taxonomically and geographically widespread cases of anterior body axial bifurcation in adult sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea). One individual of Holothuria ( Halodeima ) grisea , a common intertidal species along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, was studied externally and internally. Individuals of Apos...

This poster was presented at the Ecosystem Studies of the Subarctic and Arctic Seas (ESSAS) Conference held in St John's, Canada, in June 2024. The poster features some of my thesis work and preliminary results. Abstract: The orange-footed sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa, is a cold-water suspension-feeding species abundantly found in temperate...

The intra-ovarian presence of ootids, i.e. female gametes that have completed meiosis, is considered exceptional in the animal kingdom. The present study explores the first such case to be reported in a sea cucumber (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea). In the overwhelming majority of animals, including holothuroids, oocytes (i.e. immature female gametes...

Autotomy refers to self-amputation where the loss of a limb or organ is generally said to be (1) in response to stressful external stimuli; (2) voluntary and nervously mediated; (3) supported by adaptive features that increase efficiency and simultaneously mediate the cost; and (4) morphologically delineated by a predictable breakage plane. It is e...

This poster was presented at the SEA Conference at Memorial University of Newfoundland in April 2024. The poster features some preliminary findings of my thesis research. Abstract: The orange-footed sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa, is a benthic suspension-feeding species, and an integral part of food webs that links primary production to the seaf...

Approximately 60–70 adult individuals of the dendrochirotid sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa—collected in waters off the coast of insular Newfoundland in eastern Canada—presented injuries consistent with skin ulceration disease (SKUD). An examination of 31 individuals that were suspected to be diseased revealed some cases of white-coloured lesions o...

Immunity in echinoderms, often considered the ancestral deuterostome cellular defense system, relies primarily on cells called coelomocytes. These cells have been found in the perivisceral and hydrovascular cavities, the lumen of the haemal system, and associated with the tissues of various internal organs (i.e. marginated). Coelomocytes consist of...

This document synthesising knowledge on the northern sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa was prepared for all stakeholders, including industry participants, government scientists, policymakers, and academic researchers. Its aim is to highlight the uniqueness of this marine resource to guide the industry forward and to emphasize areas that deserve furth...

Research on ecologically and economically important sea cucumbers has been focused on temperate and tropical species, leaving those from higher latitudes, such as the Canadian Arctic, understudied. This study compared the phenotypic characters of the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa sampled from populations of the Arctic (Hudson Bay, Nunavut) and No...

Simple Summary Competitive interactions among animals come in a variety of forms and may be influenced by the size and number of the individuals involved, and whether these individuals are from the same species or not. The deep sea is a food-limited environment where it can be assumed that larger or faster scavengers might have an advantage over sm...

For the first time, industrial processors of the suspension-feeding sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa (Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida) have reported two individuals with pebbles or stones nestled inside their body cavities. The two sea cucumbers were harvested by bottom trawl off the coast of Newfoundland (eastern Canada) and later analysed. They mea...

This paper presents the first records of the brittle star Ophiactis abyssicola in Canadian waters and range extensions of up to 1900 km in the Northwest Atlantic from previously known locations. Samples were collected off northern Labrador and the northern portion of insular Newfoundland (eastern Canada) at 433 and 1097 m depths, respectively. This...

While larval ecology is central to the population dynamics of marine benthic species with multiphasic life histories, the adaptations of larvae to environmental variability remain incompletely understood in many species. Using the holothuroid echinoderm (sea cucumber) Isostichopus fuscus, we examined how a planktotrophic species can use pre-compete...

The innate immunity of echinoderms has been a research focus since the early twentieth century, consistently providing ever deeper knowledge of its complexity and evolutionary aspects. At its core are coelomocytes, which are diverse cells collectively known to respond in a variety of ways, including via movement, phagocytosis, and aggregation. Howe...

Holothuria scabra is one of the most intensively studied holothuroids, or sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), having been discussed in the literature since the early 19th century. The species is important for several reasons: (1) it is widely distributed and historically abundant in several shallow soft-bottom habitats throughout the Indo...

Members of the family Lamippidae are obligate endoparasitic copepods that typically associate with octocorals. In the present work, the association between Lamippe bouligandi and its bathyal sea pen host Anthoptilum grandiflorum was examined. A total of 1463 females and 23 males of L. bouligandi were collected from 195 colonies of A. grandiflorum....

Sea anemones are often presented as a major component of benthic communities and described as ecologically important in benthic food webs. However, studies on the trophic ecology of deep-sea species are rare. Here, the feeding habits and dietary sources of three species of bathyal sea anemones (Actinostola callosa, Actinauge cristata, Urticina sp.)...

Among arthropods, pycnogonids are generally considered of minor ecological significance in marine ecosystems. However, the fact that they can host a wide diversity and high abundance of epibiotic organisms suggests that their role in benthic communities may be underestimated. The present study characterized the diversity, dynamics and role of the e...

The feeding behaviour of deep-sea animals is largely understudied despite being of relevance to assess changes in ecosystems functioning in the face of anthropogenic impacts and climate regime shifts. Here, time-lapse videography in dark, cold-water, flow-through laboratory settings was used to study the behaviours of a gastropod (Buccinum scalarif...

Gersemia rubiformis is a soft coral belonging to the family Nephtheidae, known to provide habitat for many organisms and to play an essential role in benthic ecosystems. The present study examined the relationship between G. rubiformis and the epibiotic amphipod Stenula nordmanni in the coastal waters of eastern Canada. The prevalence of the associ...

Holothuroids (sea cucumbers) are one of the most ubiquitous groups of benthic animals found across diverse marine ecosystems. As echinoderms, they also occupy an important place in the evolutionary hierarchy, sitting close to vertebrates in the deuterostome clade, making them valuable multidisciplinary model organisms. Apart from being ecologically...

Ophiopholis aculeata is a ubiquitous brittle star (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) known to occur from the upper subtidal to the bathyal zone. Individuals from shallow inshore habitats (rhodolith beds and rock fields) and deeper offshore locations in eastern Canada were studied to assess the population structure, habitat selection, diet, and feeding st...

Information on newly settled juveniles and recruitment processes in sea cucumbers is sparse for most commercial species, impeding protection of nursery habitats, which are key to management. Here, the ecology of early life stages of Holothuria floridana was investigated. In laboratory experiments, females released a small number of oocytes, which u...

Marine animal forests (MAFs) are constituted by dense aggregations of epibenthic and emergent animals, chiefly members of Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (hydrozoans and anthozoans, including corals), and Bryozoa. Their three-dimensional structure and collective spatial complexity provide a diversity of habitats for associated fauna. Dispersed throug...

The demand and high market price for sea cucumber has led to the collapse of wild stocks for many traditional species in Asia and the Indo-Pacific. New species have therefore been introduced to the markets over recent decades, including Cucumaria frondosa. A fishery for C. frondosa emerged in the USA in the 1980s and quickly developed in Iceland, C...

Survival is the greatest imperative of any life form, and the apodid holothuroid echinoderm (Chiridota laevis) exemplifies this in a remarkable manner. This small, 40–50 mm long, soft-bodied sea cucumber normally spends its time hidden underneath rocks in the shallow waters of the North Atlantic. However, a recent discovery showed that C. laevis is...

While so-called brown bodies were first defined in the 1950s as colorful aggregates of cells in the general cavity of echinoderms and other marine benthic taxa, their distribution and role have not yet been fully clarified. This work characterized free coelomocytes and corresponding aggregates (“bodies”) in the hydrovascular system and perivisceral...

Deep-sea nudibranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) have rarely been reported from eastern Canada. Here we describe range extensions for two species found in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Tritonia newfoundlandica Valdés, Murillo, McCarthy & Yedinak, 2017 was originally collected on the Flemish Cap off Newfoundland, Canada, and Doridoxa ingo...

Literature records of large actiniid sea anemones along the Atlantic coast of Canada currently include three Urticina species: U. felina, U. fecunda and U. crassicornis. The findings of the present morphological and molecular study conducted in eastern Newfoundland suggest that U. felina is often misidentified, and that this region may only harbor...

While reproduction in deep-sea corals remains incompletely understood, there is a particularly crucial shortage of information related to corals living in deep waters of the Arctic Ocean. In the present study, colonies of the deep-sea pennatulacean coral Umbellula encrinus were collected in Baffin Bay (High Canadian Arctic) at bathyal depths betwee...

Methods have been proposed to mitigate the environmental footprint of aquaculture, including co-culture of species occupying different trophic levels. In this study, sea cucumbers Cucumaria frondosa, either from production tanks fed with effluent water from land-based salmon culture over 4 yr or collected from the field, were compared using stable...

While the suspension-feeding sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa is commercially exploited in the North Atlantic and is considered to have potential for integrated aquaculture, the impact of environmental conditions on its behaviour and population structure remains incompletely understood. The present study showed that adults are not photosensitive; th...

The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is known to prey on slow-moving or sessile organisms. During annual surveys of queen conch (Strombus gigas) in southern Belize, the first direct visual documentation that sea turtles prey on sea cucumbers was obtained, confirming the limited evidence previously obtained from gut content analyses. An indiv...

Sponge larvae are not that fast, but still the fastest - E. M. Montgomery, J.-F. Hamel, A. Mercier

Larval nutritional mode and swimming behaviour in ciliated marine larvae – CORRIGENDUM - E. M. Montgomery, J.-F. Hamel, A. Mercier

Orange-footed Sea Cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa; Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) is a dark-brown species that is broadly distributed in North Atlantic and Arctic waters. Here, we document the rare occurrence of colour morphs showing various degrees of albinism, from totally white to faint orange pigmentation. These unusually coloured individuals were...

Velvet shell, Velutina velutina (Müller, 1776), is a specialist predator of ascidians, like other members of the gastropod family Velutinidae. Globally, invasive ascidians have become problematic, ecologically and economically, yet ecological knowledge of velutinids remains limited. This study outlines the life history and feeding ecology of V. vel...

Biochemical markers developed initially for food-web studies of terrestrial and shallow-water environments have only recently been applied to deep-sea ecosystems (i.e., in the early 2000s). For the first time since their implementation, this review took a close look at the existing literature in the field of deep-sea trophic ecology to synthesize c...

While age is fundamental in animal biology, forming the basis of critical concepts such as life-history strategies, longevity and population structures, measuring this variable in some taxa remains problematic. Such is the case of holothuroid echinoderms, which play key roles in marine benthic communities from the shore to the abyss, and which are...

Background: Electromagnetic pulses that precede earthquakes, and the ensuing crust deformations and vibrations, have been associated with unusual animal behavior (UAB), most commonly in terrestrial species but also in certain marine species, chiefly in the Chordata phylum (e.g. fish, cetaceans). Goals: This study explored the occurrence of earthqu...

Fatty acids in neutral and polar lipids were used to investigate trophic connections in species from five families of demersal (Rajella fyllae, Malacoraja senta, Alepocephalus bairdii, Borostomias antarcticus) and pelagic fish (Bathytroctes macrolepis, Lampanyctus spp., Chaulidos sloani, Serrivomer beanii) sampled in the deep Atlantic Ocean off New...

Poster describing M.Sc work on the foraging and feeding behaviours of four deep-sea invertebrate species from the Northwest Atlantic ocean.

Biochemical markers developed initially for food-web studies of terrestrial and shallow-water environments have only recently been applied to deep-sea ecosystems (i.e. in the early 2000s). For the first time since their implementation, this review took a close look at the existing literature in the field of deep-sea trophic ecology to synthesize cu...

The environmental control of reproductive processes is central to both fundamental and applied aspects of animal ecology. The present study experimentally assessed how environmental factors modulate gametogenesis and spawning and impact embryo development and survival in the holothuroid Cucumaria frondosa, a cold-water echinoderm with lecithotrophi...

Foreword This series documents the scientific basis for the evaluation of aquatic resources and ecosystems in Canada. As such, it addresses the issues of the day in the time frames required and the documents it contains are not intended as definitive statements on the subjects addressed but rather as progress reports on ongoing investigations.

The present study investigated methods to trigger spawning and artificially induce oocyte maturation in the commercial cold-water suspension-feeding sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa. Spawning occurred after exposure to live phytoplankton, commercial phytoplankton paste, and conspecific sperm. Live phytoplankton at 1 x 105 cells ml-1 induced the high...

Swimming propagules (embryos and larvae) are a critical component of the life histories of benthic marine animals. Larvae that feed (planktotrophic) have been assumed to swim faster, disperse farther and have more complex behavioural patterns than non-feeding (lecithotrophic) larvae. However, a number of recent studies challenge these early assumpt...

Lipids are key compounds in marine ecosystems being involved in organism growth, reproduction, and survival. Despite their biological significance and ease of measurement, the use of lipids in deep-sea studies is limited, as is our understanding of energy and nutrient flows in the deep ocean. Here, a comprehensive analysis of total lipid content, a...

Lipid class composition across the deep-sea taxa analyzed. Mean proportion % ±sd of phospholipids (PL), free fatty acids (FFA), sterols (ST), triacylglycerols (TAG), wax esters/steryl esters (WE/SE), as well as triacyglycerols to sterols (TAG:ST) and phospholipids to sterols (PL:ST) ratios are reported for each species analyzed in this study. (DOCX...

FA composition across the deep-sea taxa analyzed. Mean value % ±sd of the sum of saturated FA (∑Sat), monounsaturated FA (∑MUFA), polyunsaturated FA (∑PUFA), n-3 FA (∑n-3), n-6 FA (∑n-6), and the sum of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acids (DHA+EPA) are reported for each species studied. Material and method reports the list of the fatty...

Individual fatty acids (%) measured for all the individuals analyzed. (XLSX)

Proportions of the remaining lipid classes across phyla. Mean proportion % ±se of hydrocarbons (HC), ethyl ethers (EE), methyl esters (ME), ethyl ketones (EK), methyl ketones (MK), glyceryl ethers (GE), alcohols (ALC), diacylglycerols (DAG), and acetone-mobile polar lipids (AMPL) are reported from the phylum containing the highest amounts of lipids...

This study presents new records for 4 eulimid species (Gastropoda, Eulimidae) including Melanella eburnea (Megerle von Mühlfeld, 1824), Melanella hypsela (Verrill & Bush, 1900), Melanella sp., and Eulimostraca encalada Espinosa, Ortea & Magaña, 2006 found on the body wall of the sea cucumber Holothuria mexicana in Belize. Three of these records (M....