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Hope springs eternal in the starfish gonad: preserved potential for sexual reproduction in a single-clone population of a fissiparous starfish

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Abstract

Among echinoderms, asexual reproduction by fission occurs in few species. This strategy is considered a temporary response to stressful conditions and usually alternates with sexual reproduction events; thus, monoclonal populations are extremely rare. The occurrence of a single-clone population of the starfish Coscinasterias tenuispina at Llançà (NW Mediterranean) allowed us to study intra-clonal variation of the reproductive cycle during a two-year study. The few developed gonads (all male) were found in winter months, coinciding with the minimum photoperiod (ρ = −0.82; P < 0.001) and lowest temperatures (ρ = −0.75; P < 0.001), only in best-fed individuals, indicating that food availability influences individual ability for gonad development. Fissiparity happened throughout all the sampled period, but its rate increased with warm temperatures (ρ = 0.68; P < 0.0001). In contrast to what has been reported in other species, no correlation between fission rates and population density was found. The population was maintained over time by asexual reproduction and remained monoclonal. Although sexual reproduction has probably not occurred in this all-male population for a long time, the ability to yearly produce mature gonads is retained by some individuals, indicating that potential to reproduce sexually may be preserved, even in the case of strictly asexual populations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted with Judit Bellés Garulera that helped during the sampling and dissection. Thanks to Marcos Roca-Cusachs for samples from Canary Islands. We also thanks to all the people that collaborated during the sampling work: Ana Riesgo, Carlota Coll, Daniel Durán, Fabiana Saporiti, Guillem Santamaria, José Carrillo-Ortiz, María Casso, and Sara Atienza. This research was financially supported by a PhD fellowship FPI-MICINN (BES-2011-044154) to AGC, a ‘Juan de la Cierva’ contract from the Spanish Government to RPP, and the Spanish Government projects CTM2010-22218-C02 and CTM2013-48163.

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Author notes

  1. Rocío Pérez-Portela

    Present address: Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

  2. Owen S. Wangensteen

    Present address: School of Environment and Life Sciences, Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Biology, University of Barcelona and Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBIO), Avda. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Alex Garcia-Cisneros, Owen S. Wangensteen, Marta Campos-Canet & Creu Palacín

  2. Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Accès Cala St. Francesc, 19, 17300, Blanes, Spain

    Rocío Pérez-Portela

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  1. Alex Garcia-Cisneros
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Correspondence to Alex Garcia-Cisneros.

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Handling editor: Diego Fontaneto

Electronic supplementary material

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10750_2016_2971_MOESM1_ESM.tiff

Supplementary figure S1. Histograms of size structure of the population per month. Supplementary material 1 (TIFF 6378 kb)

Supplementary figure S2. Histogram of sizes at Llançà and Canary Islands. Supplementary material 2 (TIFF 6369 kb)

10750_2016_2971_MOESM3_ESM.tiff

Supplementary figure S3. Pie charts showing the regeneration state for individuals of both areas. Supplementary material 3 (TIFF 6369 kb)

10750_2016_2971_MOESM4_ESM.tiff

Supplementary figure S4. Number of madreporites in individuals of different regeneration state. Supplementary material 4 (TIFF 25468 kb)

10750_2016_2971_MOESM5_ESM.tiff

Supplementary figure S5. Histology sections from C. tenuispina male gonads with the three mature stages found. A) Growing, B) premature, and C) mature. S, spermatozoa and NT, nutritive tissue. Supplementary material 5 (TIFF 6378 kb)

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Garcia-Cisneros, A., Pérez-Portela, R., Wangensteen, O.S. et al. Hope springs eternal in the starfish gonad: preserved potential for sexual reproduction in a single-clone population of a fissiparous starfish. Hydrobiologia 787, 291–305 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2971-8

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