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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]
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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

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