questions on article

[mjcarl]

Hey Jake, good article. Thanks for the props to the SECORE project. At month three, I still have over 1000 colonies of palmata going. Most others in the project are having similar success, so quite a few colonies surviving right now.

In your article you state that both Cynarina and Scolymia are brooding corals. Do you have personal experience or a reference for that? The only Scolymia that I know of that is a brooder is Scolymia wellsii from the Caribbean and I haven't heard of any Cynarina being brooders. I'm trying to compile as much info as I can on brooders, and haven't run across these before. Would be nice if they were as they would be a great genus to work with.

Mitch

 

[coralite]

Hey Mitch, thanks for the question. I am really glad to hear that you are having some luck keeping the apalm colonies alive. So you must be getting into 5 or more buds by now eh? Can you describe the system you are keeping them in a little bit?

As you know, our understanding of sexual coral reproduction is still in its infancy and much of what we know is based off of really old or really new research. My knowledge of brooding LPS is mostly from discussions with Dr. Szmant and Dr. Weil. First off it was explained to me that apart from fungiids, most large single polyped type corals like most mussids (Scolymia, mussa, mycetophylia etc.) in the Carribean are known to be brooding corals which release planulae in the spring. For the species which havent been directly observed to release planulae, this mode of reproduction is supported by histology of corals which has never uncovered gobs of eggs ready to be released a la "broadcast spawning" style. Furthermore, the ecology of these corals supports a broadcast spawning strategy. Most large and fairly spread out organisms (such as solitary stony coral polyps) tend to rely on K strategies of sexual reproduction. Because they are rarely in any great abundance, it just doenst make sense for a spread out organism to go all out in an r strategy of reproduction. Additionally, I think it would be far too costly for a single polyp to produce the numbers of eggs required to beat the odds in a broadcast spawning strategy. Although I dont have any personal experience with cynarina brooding, I would assume that most large solitary corals are brooders until it is shown otherwise. I know you were hoping for some definite references but if i come across some I will definitely let you know.

 

[mjcarl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8496167#post8496167 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralite
Hey Mitch, thanks for the question. I am really glad to hear that you are having some luck keeping the apalm colonies alive. So you must be getting into 5 or more buds by now eh? Can you describe the system you are keeping them in a little bit?

Although I dont have any personal experience with cynarina brooding, I would assume that most large solitary corals are brooders until it is shown otherwise. I know you were hoping for some definite references but if i come across some I will definitely let you know.

My biggest colony is about a quarter inch, maybe 50 polyps or so. Those in the grooves of the tiles are around the 5 polyp stage, while those that are exposed are quite a bit bigger.

The system is pretty simple. It's two 7x3ft troughs that are 18in deep. Both go to a 75gal sump that has a few pieces of rock along w/ a ASM skimmer. It has a Sequence Hammerhead for a return that goes up to six outlets for each trough and each outlet has a penductor. Each trough has 2 400 watt fixuture w/ Sunmaster bulbs that are about 6 inches off the surface. There is also a chiller and calcium reactor. There is also no sand as the current blew it all over.

As far as the brooders go, thats one thing I want to answer w/ my project. I would assume too that they are brooders, but as I've learned many times, corals don't always do what you assume! Trachyphyllia would seem to be an ideal brooder, but there have been a few reports from hobbyists of them broadcast spawning. Hopefully we can find out which is which.

Mitch