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Microhabitat use and photoacclimation in the clownfish sea anemone Entacmaea quadricolor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2013

Austin K. Dixon ,
David Needham ,
Fuad A. Al-Horani  and
Nanette E. Chadwick
Austin K. Dixon
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, 101 Rouse Life Sciences Building, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
David Needham
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, 101 Rouse Life Sciences Building, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
Fuad A. Al-Horani
Affiliation:
The University of Jordan-Aqaba, PO Box 2595, Aqaba 77110, Jordan
Nanette E. Chadwick*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, 101 Rouse Life Sciences Building, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N.E. Chadwick, Department of Biological Sciences, 101 Rouse Life Sciences Building, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Many reef-building corals photoacclimate by increasing levels of chlorophyll per microalgal cell with depth, but mechanisms of photoacclimation in coral reef sea anemones remain poorly understood. We determined variation in ambient irradiance and patterns of abundance, microhabitat use, chlorophyll and microalgal cell concentrations in clownfish sea anemones Entacmaea quadricolor from 0 to 43 m depth on a coral reef at Aqaba, Jordan, northern Red Sea. In shallow areas, anemones occupied shaded reef microhabitats exposed to significantly lower irradiance than in the adjacent open water, but on the deep reef slope they occupied unshaded habitats. Anemone abundances were the highest observed thus far in the Red Sea, and peaked at mid depth on the reef slope. Microalgal abundance in anemone tentacles increased four-fold from the shallow to deep reef, while chlorophyll-a concentrations per algal cell did not vary significantly with depth. We conclude that E. quadricolor photoacclimates using two major mechanisms: (1) occurrence in shaded microhabitats when shallow, thus reducing exposure to high irradiance, and (2) increasing microalgal abundance with depth, thereby enhancing photosynthetic efficiency at low irradiance.

Keywords

irradiancemicroalgaecoral reefGulf of AqabaJordanRed SeaSymbiodinium
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 473 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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