Oury N., Gélin Pauline, Masse L., Magalon H. (2019). First study of asexual planulae in the coral Pocillopora damicornis type SSH05c from the southwestern Indian Ocean. Coral Reefs, 38 (3), p. 499-503. ISSN 0722-4028.
Titre du document
First study of asexual planulae in the coral Pocillopora damicornis type SSH05c from the southwestern Indian Ocean
Coral Reefs, 2019,
38 (3), p. 499-503 ISSN 0722-4028
With the recent taxonomic revision of the scleractinian Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus 1758), now identified as a species complex, former reproduction studies must be reconsidered. In this context, this study focuses on P.damicornis type, more precisely SSH05c sensu Gelin et al. (Mol Phylogenet Evol 109:430-446, 2017b), found exclusively in the Indian Ocean. We aimed to determine whether P.damicornis type SSH05c is able to produce asexually derived larvae. For this, colonies were collected in Reunion Island and kept in aquaria. Two mother colonies released larvae that were genotyped using 13 microsatellite loci along with the mother colony to compare their multi-locus genotypes and identify clones. All planulae (9 and 84, respectively) presented a genotype identical to their mother colony. This study provides the first evidence of asexual larval production in P. damicornis type SSH05c from the southwestern Indian Ocean. However, given the limited data set, more studies are needed to better characterize the role and frequency of this reproductive strategy for this lineage.
