Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:16:11.553Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reproductive strategies of two invasive sun corals (Tubastraea spp.) in the southwestern Atlantic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Alline Figueira de Paula ,
Débora de Oliveira Pires  and
Joel Christopher Creed
Alline Figueira de Paula*
Affiliation:
Setor de Celenterologia, Departamento de Invertebrados – Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, São Cristóvão, 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Débora de Oliveira Pires
Affiliation:
Setor de Celenterologia, Departamento de Invertebrados – Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, São Cristóvão, 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Coral Vivo Associate Researcher
Joel Christopher Creed
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia Marinha Bêntica, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – UERJ, PHLC Sala 220, Rua São Francisco Xavier 524, CEP 20559-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.F. de Paula, Setor de Celenterologia, Departamento de Invertebrados – Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Quinta da Boa Vista, São Cristóvão, 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil email: allinefigueira@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The azooxanthellate sun corals Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis are invasive species which were introduced into Brazilian shallow-water tropical rocky reefs by oil and gas platforms. Both species are simultaneous hermaphrodites and brooders. Histological analysis shows a continuous reproduction with the presence of different stages of development of oocytes, spermatic cysts and larvae occurring together in the same polyps (overlapping). Gametogenesis, embryogenesis, planulation and settlement were observed. Although most of the colonies showed only oocytes, none had only testes. Spermatic cysts were observed in 8.3% of T. coccinea colonies and in 5.5% of colonies of T. tagusensis. The maximum diameter of oocyte of T. tagusensis (1252.5 µm) was greater than T. coccinea (901.8 µm) and mature spermaries 700 µm in diameter formed the typical arrangement of ‘bouquets’. Although all colonies showed oocytes throughout the year, two reproductive peaks of 3–4 months duration were observed. The larvae of T. coccinea and T. tagusensis had a competency period of 18 d in aquaria and settled near the parental colony. The investigation of gametogenesis, temporal patterns of reproduction, fecundity and sexual maturation helps to explain the rapid expansion in to new habitats and high population growth in these invasive sun corals.

Keywords

reproductive cyclefecundityexotic speciesinvasionTubastraea coccineaTubastraea tagusensis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 481 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014 

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

Ayre, D.J. and Resing, J.M. (1986) Sexual and asexual production of planulae in reef corals. Marine Biology 90, 187–190.Google Scholar
Babcock, R.C., Bull, G., Harrison, P.L., Heyward, A.J., Oliver, J.K., Wallace, C.C. and Willis, B.L. (1986) Synchronous spawnings of 105 scleractinian coral species on the Great Barrier Reef. Marine Biology 90, 379–394.Google Scholar
Babcock, R.C., Wills, B.L. and Simpson, C.J. (1994) Mass spawning of corals on a high latitude coral reef. Coral Reefs 13, 161–169.Google Scholar
Bacela, K., Konopacka, A. and Grabowski, M. (2009) Reproductive biology of Dikerogammarus haemoaphes: an invasive gammarid (Crustacea: Amphipoda) colonizing running waters in Central Europe. Biological Invasions 11, 2055–2066.Google Scholar
Cairns, S.D. (2000) A revision of the shallow-water azooxanthellate Scleractinia of the Western Atlantic. Studies on the Natural History Caribbean Region LXXV. Uitgaven Natuurwetenschappelijke Studiekring voor het Caraïbisch 143, 1–240.Google Scholar
Carlon, D.B. (2002) Production and supply of larvae as determinants of zonation in a brooding tropical coral. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 268, 33–46.Google Scholar
Carlton, J.T. (1989) Man's role in changing the face of the ocean: biological invasion and implications for conservation of nearshore environments. Conservation Biology 3, 265–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlton, J.T. and Geller, J.B. (1993) Ecological roulette: the global transport of nonindigenous marine organisms. Science 261, 78–82.Google Scholar
Castro, C.B. and Pires, D.O. (2001) Brazilian coral reefs: what we already know and what is still missing. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 357–371.Google Scholar
Creed, J.C. (2006) Two invasive alien azooxanthellate corals, Tubastraea coccinea and Tubastraea tagusensis, dominate the native zooxanthellate Mussismilia hispida in Brazil. Coral Reefs 25, 350.Google Scholar
Creed, J.C. and De Paula, A.F. (2007) Substratum preference during recruitment of two invasive alien corals onto shallow-subtidal tropical rocky shores. Marine Ecology Progress Series 330, 101–111.Google Scholar
De Paula, A.F. and Creed, J.C. (2004) Two species of the coral Tubastraea (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) in Brazil: a case of accidental introduction. Bulletin of Marine Science 74, 175–183.Google Scholar
De Paula, A.F. and Creed, J.C. (2005) Spatial distribution and abundance of nonindigenous coral genus Tubastraea (Cnidaria, Scleractinia) around Ilha Grande, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biology 65, 661–673.Google Scholar
Edmondson, C.H. (1929) Growth of Hawaiian corals. Bernice PBishop Museum Bulletin 58, 1–38.Google Scholar
Edmondson, C.H. (1946) Behavior of coral planulae under altered saline and thermal conditions. Bernice PBishop Museum Occasional Paper 18, 283–304.Google Scholar
Fadlallah, Y.H. (1983) Sexual reproduction, development and larval biology in scleractinian corals. Coral Reefs 2, 129–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fadlallah, Y.H. and Pearse, J.S. (1982) Sexual reproduction in solitary corals: overlapping oogenic and brooding cycle, and benthic planula in Balanophyllia elegans. Marine Biology 71, 233–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, D. (2001) Biogeography of three Caribbean corals (Scleractinia) and a rapid range expansion of Tubastraea coccinea into the Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 1175–1189.Google Scholar
Fenner, D. and Banks, K. (2004) Orange cup coral Tubastraea coccinea invades Florida and the Flowers Garden Banks, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Coral Reefs 23, 505–507.Google Scholar
Fine, M., Zibrowius, H. and Loya, Y. (2001) Oculina patagonica: a non-lessepsian scleractinian coral invading the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biology 138, 1195–1203.Google Scholar
Gerrodette, T. (1981) Dispersal of the solitary coral Balanophyllia elegans by demersal planular larvae. Ecology 62, 611–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glynn, P.W., Colley, S.B., Maté, J.L., Cortés, J., Guzman, H.M., Bailey, R.L., Feingold, J.S. and Enochs, I.C. (2008) Reproductive ecology of the azooxanthelate coral Tubastraea coccinea in the Equatorial Eastern Pacific: Part V. Dendrophylliidae. Marine Biology 153, 529–544.Google Scholar
Goffredo, S. and Teló, T. (1998) Hermaphroditism and brooding in the solitary coral Balanophyllia europaea (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Scleractinia). Italian Journal of Zoology 65, 159–165.Google Scholar
Goffredo, S. and Zaccanti, F. (2004) Laboratory observations of larval behavior and metamorphosis in the Mediterranean solitary coral Balanophyllia europaea (Scleractinia, Dendrophylliidae). Bulletin of Marine Science 74, 449–458.Google Scholar
Goffredo, S., Radetić, J., Airi, V. and Zaccanti, F. (2005) Sexual reproduction of the solitary sunset cup coral Leptopsammia pruvoti (Scleractinia, Dendrophylliidae) in the Mediterranean. 1. Morphological aspects of gametogenesis and ontogenesis. Marine Biology 147, 485–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosholz, E. (2002) Ecological and evolutionary consequences of coastal invasions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17, 22–27.Google Scholar
Harrison, P.L. (1985) Sexual characteristics of scleractinian corals: systematic and evolutionary implications. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Coral Reef Congress, Tahit: 4, 337–342.Google Scholar
Harrison, P.L. (2011) Sexual reproduction of scleractinian corals. In Dubinsky, Z. and Stambler, N. (eds). Coral reefs: an ecosystem in transition, Part 3. Berlin: Springer, pp. 59–85.Google Scholar
Harrison, P.L. and Wallace, C.C. (1990) Reproduction, dispersal and recruitment of scleractinian corals. In Dubinsky, Z. (ed.) Ecosystems of the world: coral reefs. New York: Elsevier Science, pp. 133–207.Google Scholar
Kimura, M. and Weiss, G.H. (1964) The stepping stone model of population structure and the decrease of genetic correlation with distance. Genetics 49, 561–576.Google Scholar
Kolar, C.S. and Lodge, D.M. (2001) Progress in invasion biology: predicting invaders. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 1, 199–204.Google Scholar
Oliver, J.K., Babcock, R.C., Harrison, P.L. and Willis, B.L. (1988) Geographic extent of mass spawning: clues to ultimate causal factors. In Proceedings of the sixth International Coral Reef Symposium, vol. 2, pp. 803–810.Google Scholar
Paz-García, D.A., Reyes-Bonilla, H., Gonzaléz-Peralta, A. and Sánchez-Alcántara, I. (2007) Larval release from Tubastraea coccinea in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Coral Reefs 26, 433.Google Scholar
Pires, D.O., Castro, C.B. and Ratto, C.C. (1999) Reef coral reproduction in the Abrolhos reef complex, Brazil: the endemic genus Mussismilia. Marine Biology 135, 463–471.Google Scholar
Pires, D.O., Segal, B. and Caparelli, A.C. (2010) Reproductive effort of an endemic major reef builder along an inshore offshore gradient in south-western Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 91, 1613–1616.Google Scholar
Richmond, R.H. (1997) Reproduction and recruitment in corals: critical links in the persistence of reefs. In Birkeland, C. (ed.) Life and death of coral reefs. New York: Chapman & Hall, pp. 175–197.Google 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.Google Scholar
Sammarco, P.W., Atchison, A.D. and Boland, G.S. (2004) Expansion of coral communities within the Northern Gulf of Mexico via offshore oil and gas platforms. Marine Ecology Progress Series 280, 129–143.Google Scholar
Sloop, C.M., Ayres, D.R. and Strong, D.R. (2009) The rapid evolution of self-fertility in Spartina hybrids (Spartina alterniflora × foliosa) invading San Francisco Bay, CA. Biological Invasions 11, 1131–1144.Google Scholar
Szmant, A.M. (1986) Reproductive ecology of Caribbean reef corals. Coral Reefs 5, 43–54.Google Scholar
Szmant-Froelich, A., Reutter, M. and Riggs, L. (1985) Sexual reproduction of Favia fragum (Esper): lunar patterns of gametogenesis, embryogenesis and planulation in Puerto Rico. Bulletin of Marine Science 37, 880–892.Google Scholar
Tomalison, J. (1966) The advantages of hermaphroditism and parthenogenesis. Journal of Theoretical Biology 11, 8–54.Google Scholar
Zibrowius, H. (1992) Ongoing modifications of the Mediterranean marine fauna and flora by the establishment of exotic species. Mésogée (Bulletin du Museum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille) 51, 83–107.Google Scholar