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Ecological characterization of coral growth anomalies on Porites compressa in Hawai‘i

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Abstract

Bulbous skeletal structures with associated aberrant corallites have been abundant on Porites compressa in Kāne‘ohe Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, for at least the last 19 years. These growth anomalies (GA) appear in the summer in shallow (<3 m) water on some, but not on all colonies. GA-free branches, collected from colonies with GAs, produced GAs when cultured in outdoor flow-thru aquaria. Normal branches, whose tissues were continuous with those of GAs, grew in length much more slowly than normal branches from the same colony that were not connected with a GA, suggesting that there is a translocation of materials from normal tissue to GAs. Small experimental colonies that were either exposed to, or protected from, UV radiation did not differ in their rate of GA formation. GAs had a lower probability of survival than normal branches. This characteristic, in combination with their effect on the growth of normal branches and other reported deficiencies in the tissues of growth anomalies (e.g., reduced or failed reproduction), suggests that GA-bearing colonies of this species have reduced fitness.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge and give thanks for the use of the facilities of The Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology for carrying out this study. I wish to thank Sho Mayumi and Sean McDuff for assistance with field work and, Greta Aeby, Steve Coles, Fenny Cox and Rodolf Pan for their comments on drafts of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoology Department, University Hawai‘i, Honolulu, HI, USA

    J. Stimson

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  1. J. Stimson
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Correspondence to J. Stimson.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Andrew Baird

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Stimson, J. Ecological characterization of coral growth anomalies on Porites compressa in Hawai‘i. Coral Reefs 30, 133–142 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0672-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0672-8

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