Abundance of bacteria and endospores in surface sediments of Josephine Seamount area (Table 1)

These strains have been identified mainly as members of the genera Marinovibrio, Pseudomonas, and Bacillus. The majority of bacteria isolated from shallow areas (Josephine Seamount) were sea water media requiring Marinovibrio and Pseudornonas spp. but in sediment samples taken from depths exceeding 1000 m the probably terrestrial sporeforming Bacillus spp. predominated.

Further investigations in the same region during the 23rd cruise of the "Meteor" demonstrated that about 30 to 50% of the sporeforming bacteria found in the sediment samples could be isolated from dormant spores in situ. The remaining more than 50 % of sporeformers in the deep sea region examined are believed to be metabolic active cells.