Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:20:55.841Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reproductive patterns in two deep-water solitary corals from the north-east Atlantic—Flabellum alabastrum and F. angulare (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2010

Rhian G. Waller  and
Paul A. Tyler
Rhian G. Waller*
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
Paul A. Tyler
Affiliation:
National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: R.G. Waller, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Gametogenesis and reproductive periodicity of the solitary scleractinians Flabellum alabastrum (from the Rockall Trough) and F. angulare (from the Porcupine Seabight) were investigated. Samples were collected between depths from 1370 to 2190 m for F. alabastrum and 2412 to 2467 m for F. angulare. Both species showed gonochorism with a 1:1 sex-ratio and broadcast spawning of gametes is inferred from the lack of brooded planulae. Oocyte sizes were large in both species (925 μm in F. alabastrum and 1015 μm in F. angulare), suggesting lecithotrophic larval development. Fecundity and periodicity of oocyte development differed between the two species. Flabellum alabastrum produced a maximum of 2800 oocytes per polyp quasi-continuously, whereas the deeper species F. angulare produced a maximum of 550 oocytes per polyp either seasonally or periodically. Both species showed size-dependent fecundity. The data show a decrease in oocyte size and fecundity with depth, in concordance with other deep-water scleractinian species.

Keywords

deep-water coralreproductiongametogenesisseasonalitysolitary coralazooxanthellate
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 669 - 675
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Billett, D.S.M., Lampitt, R.S., Rice, A.L. and Mantoura, R.F.C. (1983) Seasonal sedimentation of phytoplankton to the deep-sea benthos. Nature 302, 520–522.Google Scholar
Brooke, S. and Young, C.M. (2003) Reproductive ecology of a deep-water scleractinian coral, Oculina varicosa, from the southeast Florida shelf. Continental Shelf Research 23, 847–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooke, S. and Young, C.M. (2005) Embryogenesis and larval biology of the ahermatypic scleractinian Oculina varicosa. Marine Biology 146, 665–675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, S. and Babcock, R.C. (2005) Reproductive ecology of three reef-forming, deep-sea corals in the New Zealand region. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. New York: Springer, pp. 701–713.Google Scholar
Cairns, S.D. (1999) Species richness of recent Scleractinia. Atoll Research Bulletin 459–465, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cairns, S.D. (2007) Deep-water corals: an overview with special reference to diversity and distribution of deep-water scleractinian corals. Bulletin of Marine Science 81, 311–322.Google Scholar
Eckelbarger, K.J. and Watling, L. (1995) Role of phylogenetic constraints in determining reproductive patterns in deep-sea invertebrates. Invertebrate Biology 114, 256–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fadlallah, Y.H. (1983) Sexual reproduction, development and larval biology in scleractinian corals: a review. Coral Reefs 2, 129–150.Google Scholar
Flint, H., Waller, R.G. and Tyler, P.A. (2007) Reproduction in Fungiacyathus marenzelleri from the northeast Pacific Ocean. Marine Biology 151, 843–849.Google Scholar
Goffredo, S., Airi, V., Radetic, J. and Zaccanti, F. (2006) Sexual reproduction of the solitary sunset cup coral Leptopsammia pruvoti (Scleractinia, Dendrophylliidae) in the Mediterranean. 2. Quantitative aspects of the annual reproductive cycle. Marine Biology 148, 923–931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffredo, S., Arnone, S. and Zaccanti, F. (2002) Sexual reproduction in the Mediterranean solitary coral Balanophyllia europaea (Scleractinia, Dendrophylliidae). Marine Ecology Progress Series 229, 83–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartnoll, R.G. (1977) Reproductive strategy in two British species of Alcyonium. In Keegan, B.F., Ceidigh, P.O. and Boaden, P.J.S. (eds) Biology of benthic organisms. New York: Pergamon, pp. 321–328.Google Scholar
Kruger, A., Schleyer, M.H. and Benyahu, Y. (1998) Reproduction in Anthelia glauca (Octocorallia: Xeniidae). I. Gametogenesis and larval brooding. Marine Biology 131, 423–432.Google Scholar
Lampitt, R.S., Bett, B.J., Kiriakoulis, K., Popova, E.E., Ragueneau, O., Vangriesheim, A. and Wolff, G.A. (2001) Material supply to the abyssal seafloor in the Northeast Atlantic. Progress in Oceanography 50, 27–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palumbi, S.R. and Metz, E.C. (1991) Strong reproductive isolation between closely related tropical sea urchins (genus Echinometra). Molecular Biology and Evolution 8, 227–239.Google ScholarPubMed
Richmond, R. (1997) Reproduction and recruitment in corals: critical links to the persistence of reefs. In Birkeland, C. (ed.) Life and death of coral reefs. New York and London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 175–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richmond, R.H. and Hunter, C.L. (1990) Reproduction and recruitment of corals: comparisons among the Caribbean, the Tropical Pacific and the Red Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 60, 185–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richmond, R.H. and Jokiel, P.L. (1984) Lunar periodicity in larva release in the reef coral Pocillopora damicornis at Enewetak and Hawaii. Bulletin of Marine Science 34, 280–287.Google Scholar
Sherwood, O.A., Jamieson, R.E., Edinger, E.N. and Wareham, V.E. (2008) Stable C and N isotopic composition of cold-water corals from the Newfoundland and Labrador continental slope: examination of trophic, depth and spatial effects. Deep-Sea Research (Part I, Oceanographic Research Papers) 55, 1392–1402.Google Scholar
Szmant, A.M. (1986) Reproductive ecology of Caribbean reef corals. Coral Reefs 5, 43–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szmant-Froelich, A. (1984) Reef coral reproduction: diversity and community patterns. In Advances in Reef Science, Joint Meeting of the International Society for Reef Studies and Atlantic Reef Committee. Miami: University of Miami, pp. 122–123.Google Scholar
Tyler, P.A., Gage, J.D., Paterson, G.J.L. and Rice, A.L. (1993) Dietary constraints on reproductive periodicity in two sympatric deep-sea astropectinid seastars. Marine Biology 115, 267–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, P.A., Harvey, R., Giles, L.A. and Gage, J.D. (1992) Reproductive strategies and diet in deep-sea nuculanid protobranchs (Bivalvia: Nuculoidea) from the Rockall Trough. Marine Biology 114, 571–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, P.A., Pain, S.L. and Gage, J.D. (1982) The reproductive biology of the deep-sea asteroid Bathybiaster vexillifer. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 62, 57–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, R.G. (2005) Deep-water Scleractinia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa): current knowledge of reproductive processes. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 691–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, R.G. and Tyler, P.A. (2005) The reproductive biology of two deep-sea, reef-building scleractinians from the NE Atlantic Ocean. Coral Reefs 24, 514–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, R.G., Tyler, P.A. and Gage, J.D. (2002) Reproductive ecology of the deep-sea scleractinian coral Fungiacyathus marenzelleri (Vaughan, 1906) in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Coral Reefs 21, 325–331.Google Scholar
Waller, R.G., Tyler, P.A. and Gage, J.D. (2005) Sexual reproduction in three hermaphroditic deep-sea Caryophyllia species (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) from the NE Atlantic Ocean. Coral Reefs 24, 594–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, R.G., Tyler, P.A. and Smith, C.R. (2008) Fecundity and embryo development of three Antarctic deep-water scleractinians: Flabellum thouarsii, F. curvatum and F. impensum. Deep-Sea Research (Part II, Topical Studies in Oceanography) 55, 2527–2534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zibrowius, H. (1980) Les scléractiniaires de la Méditerranée et de l'Atlantique nord-oriental. Mémoires d’ Institut Océanographique (Monaco) 11, 1–284.Google Scholar