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Two distinct, geographically overlapping lineages of the corallimorpharian Ricordea florida (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Ricordeidae)

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Abstract

We examined the genetic variation of the corallimorpharian Ricordea florida; it is distributed throughout the Caribbean region and is heavily harvested for the marine aquarium trade. Eighty-four distinct individuals of R. florida were sequenced from four geographically distant Caribbean locations (Curaçao, Florida, Guadeloupe, and Puerto Rico). Analysis of the ribosomal nuclear region (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2) uncovered two geographically partially overlapping genetic lineages in R. florida, probably representing two cryptic species. Lineage 1 was found in Florida and Puerto Rico, and Lineage 2 was found in Florida, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, and Curaçao. Because of the multi-allelic nature of the ITS region, four individuals from Lineage 1 and six from Lineage 2 were cloned to evaluate the levels of hidden intra-individual variability. Pairwise genetic comparisons indicated that the levels of intra-individual and intra-lineage variability (<1%) were approximately an order of magnitude lower than the divergence (~9%) observed between the two lineages. The fishery regulations of the aquarium trade regard R. florida as one species. More refined regulations should take into account the presence of two genetic lineages, and they should be managed separately in order to preserve the long-term evolutionary potential of this corallimorpharian. The discovery of two distinct lineages in R. florida illustrates the importance of evaluating genetic variability in harvested species prior to the implementation of management policies.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Governments of Guadeloupe and Curaçao for providing collection permits. D. Ruíz, J. García, G. López, and A. Jassoud assisted with sample collections. We thank C. González Sotelo (IIM-CSIC) for her support. Comments from three anonymous reviewers significantly improved the manuscript. Monetary support was provided by the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute Grant to NVS, the UPRM-AGEP Fellowship (Grant # 0302696) to HTP, and the International Student Exchange Program and University of Vigo to TLI. Montalvo-Rodríguez and M. Couto (UPRM) assisted with cloning. DNA sequencing was performed in the Sequencing and Genotyping facility, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, which is supported in part by NCRR AABRE Grant #P20 RR16470, NIH-SCORE Grant #S06GM08102NSF-CREST Grant #0206200.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, Call Box 9000, Mayagüez, PR, 00681, USA

    H. Torres-Pratts, L. Rodríguez-Matos & N. V. Schizas

  2. Department of Ocean Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA

    T. Lado-Insua

  3. New England Aquarium, Boston, MA, 02110, USA

    A. L. Rhyne

  4. Department of Biology and Marine Biology, Roger Williams University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI, 02809, USA

    A. L. Rhyne

Authors
  1. H. Torres-Pratts
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  2. T. Lado-Insua
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  3. A. L. Rhyne
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  4. L. Rodríguez-Matos
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  5. N. V. Schizas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. V. Schizas.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Ruth Gates

The authors H. Torres-Pratts and T. Lado-Insua are contributed equally.

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Torres-Pratts, H., Lado-Insua, T., Rhyne, A.L. et al. Two distinct, geographically overlapping lineages of the corallimorpharian Ricordea florida (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Ricordeidae). Coral Reefs 30, 391–396 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0709-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0709-z

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