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First description of polyp bailout in cold-water octocorals under aquaria maintenance

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Abstract

Cnidarians, characterized by high levels of plasticity, exhibit remarkable mechanisms to withstand or escape unfavourable conditions including reverse development which describes processes of transformation of adult stages into early developmental stages with higher mobility. Polyp bailout is a stress-escape response common among scleractinian species, consisting of massive detachment of live polyps and subsequent death of the mother colony. Here, we describe two cases of polyp bailout in the cold-water octocoral species Acanthogorgia armata and Acanella arbuscula. During maintenance in aquaria, specimens of both species presented coenosarc withdrawal and loss of sclerites, followed by detachment of intact polyps. This is a strong indication of reverse development which can be a very important strategy under stress conditions and has not been reported before in cold-water octocorals.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under the ATLAS (Grant Agreement No. 678760) and MERCES project (Grant Agreement No. 689518). This output reflects only the author’s view, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. The MEDWAVES cruise was supported by the ATLAS project and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity. Maria Rakka is funded by a DRCT Ph.D. Grand (Reference M3.1.a/F/047/2015.). We are grateful to the members of the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation, the crew of the manned submersible Lula and Dr. Andreia Braga-Henriques for collection and maintenance of the coral specimens of Acanthogorgia armata. We are also grateful to all the crew of the RV Sarmiento de Gamboa, the Marine Technology Unit (UTM – CSIC), the ROV team from ACSM and all MEDWAVES cruise participants for their support during sampling and maintenance of Acanella arbuscula.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IMAR – Institute of Marine Research, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal

    Maria Rakka, Meri Bilan, Antonio Godinho & Marina Carreiro-Silva

  2. MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Horta, Portugal

    Maria Rakka, Meri Bilan, Antonio Godinho & Marina Carreiro-Silva

  3. OKEANOS Research Unit-Center of the University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal

    Maria Rakka, Meri Bilan, Antonio Godinho & Marina Carreiro-Silva

  4. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Passeig Maritim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Juancho Movilla

  5. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Estación de Investigación Jaume Ferrer, La Mola, 07700, Mahón, Spain

    Juancho Movilla

  6. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Moll de Ponent s/n, 07015, Palma, Spain

    Covadonga Orejas

Authors
  1. Maria Rakka
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  2. Meri Bilan
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  3. Antonio Godinho
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  4. Juancho Movilla
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  5. Covadonga Orejas
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  6. Marina Carreiro-Silva
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Correspondence to Maria Rakka.

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Rakka, M., Bilan, M., Godinho, A. et al. First description of polyp bailout in cold-water octocorals under aquaria maintenance. Coral Reefs 38, 15–20 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-018-01760-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-018-01760-x

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