Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T00:38:46.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A description of the skeletal development pattern of the temperate coral Caryophyllia smithi based on internal growth lines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2009

I. Nagelkerken ,
G. van der Velde  and
P.H. van Avesaath
I. Nagelkerken
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
G. van der Velde
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
P.H. van Avesaath
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the microstructure and internal growth lines of the temperate ahermatypic coral Caryophyllia smithi (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). The arrangement of internal growth lines in combination with the orientation of aragonite crystals were used to describe the pattern of skeletal development in C. smithi. The observed pattern was verified using observations from another study on skeletal development in C. smithi, but which was based only on external observations of skeletons of living and dead specimens in different stages of development. The pattern of skeletal development in C. smithi is suggested to be subdivided into three stages, based on the deposition of specific skeletal elements during the development of the skeleton. In the first ‘juvenile’ stage, various primary skeletal elements are formed: the basal plate, the septa and a primary and secondary septotheca. The second ‘half full grown’ stage is characterized by development of apparently only an extended basal attachment, which enlarges the attachment area to the substratum. In the third ‘full grown’ stage, the edge zone of the polyp tissue is retracted from the extended basal attachment to the calice, and upward growth of the coral predominates followed by lateral thickening of the septotheca, costae, septa and columella. Internal growth lines were found throughout the skeleton and may be composed of, or resulting from the presence of organic matter. The septotheca and the extended basal attachment, which are important for a strong skeletal structure and a strong attachment to the substratum, respectively, are probably thickened faster than the other skeletal elements. Attachment scars were found in areas where attachment of the coral tissue to the skeleton is critical.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 77 , Issue 2 , May 1997 , pp. 375 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1997

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

Barnes, D.J., 1970. Coral skeletons: an explanation of their growth and structure. Science, New York, 170, 1305–1308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barnes, D.J., 1972. The structure and formation of growth-ridges in scleractinian coral skeletons. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 182, 331–350.Google Scholar
Best, M.B., 1968. Notes on three common species of madreporarian corals known as: Caryophyllia smithi, Caryophyllia clavus, Coenocyathns dohrni. Bijdragen tot de dierkunde, 38, 17–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, B.E., Hewit, R. & Le Tissier, M.D., 1983. The nature and construction of skeletal spines in Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus). Coral Reefs, 2, 81–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gladfelter, E.H., 1982. Skeletal development in Acropora cervicornis: I. Patterns of CaCO3 accretion in the axial corallite. Coral Reefs, 1, 45–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gladfelter, E.H., 1983. Skeletal development in Acropora cervicornis: II. Diel patterns of CaCO3, accretion. Coral Reefs, 2, 91–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goreau, T.F., 1959. The physiology of skeleton formation in corals. I. A method for measuring the rate of calcium deposition by corals under different conditions. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Station, Woods Hole, 116, 59–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goreau, T.F., 1961. Problems of growth and calcium deposition in reef corals. Endeavour, 20, 32–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jell, J.S., 1974. The microstructure of some scleractinian corals. In Proceedings of the Second International Coral Reef Symposium, vol. 2 (ed. Cameron, A.M. et al. ), pp. 301–320. Brisbane: The Great Barrier Reef Committee.Google Scholar
Johnston, I.S., 1977. Aspects of the structure of a skeletal organic matrix, and the process of skeletogenesis in the reef-coral Pocillopora damicornis. In Proceedings of the Third International Coral Reef Symposium, vol. 2 (ed. Taylor, D.L.), pp. 447–453. Miami: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.Google Scholar
Kinchington, D., 1980. Localisation of intracellular calcium within the epidermis of a cool temperate coral. In Developmental and cellular biology of coelenterates (ed. Tardent, P. and Tardent, R.), pp. 143–148. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedicai Press.Google Scholar
Kinchington, D., 1981. Organic-matrix synthesis by scleractinian coral larval and post-larval stages during skeletogenesis. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Coral Reef Symposium, vol. 2 (ed. Gomez, E.D. et al. ), pp. 107–114. Manila: Marine Sciences Center, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Le Tissier, M.D‘A.A., 1988a. Patterns of formation and the ultrastructure of the larval skeleton of Pocillopora damicornis. Marine Biology, 98, 493–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Tissier, M.D'A.A., 1988b. Diurnal patterns of skeleton formation in Pocillopora damicornis (L). Coral Reefs, 7, 81–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Tissier, M.D'A.A., 1990. The ultrastructure of the skeleton and skeletogenic tissues of the temperate coral Caryophyllia smithii. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 70, 295–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, W.J., 1962. The distribution of the coral, Caryophyllia smithii and the barnacle Pyrgoma anglicum in British waters. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Zoology), 8, 403–418.Google Scholar
Risk, M.J. & Pearce, T.H., 1992. Interference imaging of daily growth bands in massive corals. Nature, London, 358, 572–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorauf, J.E., 1972. Skeletal microstructure and microarchitecture in Scleractinia (Coelenterata). Palaeontology, 15, 88–107.Google Scholar
Sorauf, J.E. & Jell, J.S., 1977. Structure and incremental growth in the ahermatypic coral Desmophyllum cristagalli from the North Atlantic. Palaeontology, 20, 1–19.Google Scholar
Sorauf, J.E. & Podoff, N., 1977. Skeletal structure in deep water ahermatypic corals. In Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on corals and fossil coral reefs (ed. Chevalier, J.P.), pp. 2–11. Paris: Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières.Google Scholar
Tranter, P.R.G., Nicholson, D.N. & Kinchington, D., 1982. A description of spawning and post-gastrula development of the cool temperate coral, Caryophyllia smithi. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 62, 845–854.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vahl, J., 1966. Sublichtmikroskopische Untersuchungen der Kristallinen Grundbauelemente und der Matrixbeziehung zwischen Weichkòrper und Skelett an Caryophyllia Lamarck 1801. Zeitschrift fiir Morphologie und Okologie der Tiere, 56, 21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandermeulen, J.H., 1975. Studies on reef corals. III. Fine structural changes of calicoblast cells in Pocillopora damicornis during settling and calcification. Marine Biology, 31, 69–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandermeulen, J.H. & Watabe, N., 1973. Studies on reef corals. I. Skeleton formation by newly settled planula larva of Pocillopora damicornis. Marine Biology, 23, 47–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, J.W., 1956. Scleractinia. In Treatise on invertebrate paleontology (ed. Moore, R.C.), pp. 328–477. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, J.B., 1975. The distribution of the coral Caryophyllia smithii S. & B. on the Scottish continental shelf. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 55, 611–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J.B., 1976. Attachment of the coral Caryophyllia smithii S. & B. to tubes of the polychaete Ditrupa arietina (Müller) and other substrates. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 56, 291–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wise, S.W., Jr, 1970. Scleractinian coral exoskeletons: surface microarchitecture and attachment scar patterns. Science, New York, 169, 978–980.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zibrowius, H., 1970. Étude qualitative et quantitative des salissures biologiques de plaques expérimentales immergées en pleine eau. 3. Caryophyllia smithi (Stokes & Broderip) et considérations sur d’autres espèces de madréporaires. Téthys, 2, 615–632.Google Scholar