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Summary Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolaceais a globally distributed marine bacterium that stimulates the metamorphosis of marine animal larvae, an important bacteria–animal interaction that can promote the recruitment of animals to benthic ecosystems. Recently, differentP.luteoviolaceaisolates have been shown to produce two stimulatory factors that can induce tubeworm and coral metamorphosis; Metamorphosis‐Associated Contractile structures (MACs) and tetrabromopyrrole (TBP) respectively. However, it remains unclear what proportion ofP.luteoviolaceaisolates possess the genes encoding MACs, and what phenotypic effect MACs and TBP have on other larval species. Here, we show that 9 of 19 sequencedP.luteoviolaceagenomes genetically encode both MACs and TBP. WhileP.luteoviolaceabiofilms producing MACs stimulate the metamorphosis of the tubewormHydroides elegans, TBP biosynthesis genes had no effect under the conditions tested. Although MACs are lethal to larvae of the cnidarianHydractinia symbiologicarpus,P.luteoviolaceamutants unable to produce MACs are capable of stimulating metamorphosis. Our findings reveal a hidden complexity of interactions between a single bacterial species, the factors it produces and two species of larvae belonging to different phyla.