Seasonality in polyps of a tropical cubozoan: a latina nr mordens

Courtney, Robert, and Seymour, Jamie (2013) Seasonality in polyps of a tropical cubozoan: a latina nr mordens. PLoS ONE, 8 (7). e69369. pp. 1-6.

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Abstract

A latina nr mordens have been located in large predictable spawning aggregations near Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea eight to ten days after a full moon; however, polyps have never been located in-situ. The polyp stage contributes to the abundance of medusae through asexual reproduction and metamorphosis, and may influence the periodicity of medusae by metamorphosis of the polyp. To elucidate the relationship between medusae periodicity and polyp ecology, polyps were exposed to thermal and osmotic treatments in order to determine the theoretical environmental limits to their distribution. Maximum fecundity occurred in thermal treatments of 21 to 25ºC and the theoretical minimum thermal requirement for population stability was approximately 17ºC. Polyps were also exposed to five feeding regimes and fecundity was found to be positively correlated with feeding frequency. Thermal and osmotic variations did not induce metamorphosis in this species, however, reduced food did. The implications of asexual reproduction and cues for metamorphosis in relation to population dynamics of this species are discussed.

Item ID: 29087
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Keywords: latina nr mordens; Osprey Reef; Coral Sea; polyps; medusae; tropical cubozoan
Additional Information:

© 2013 Courtney et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funders: Lions Foundation of Australia, Queensland Emergency Medical Research Foundation
Date Deposited: 21 Nov 2013 05:52
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060205 Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl Marine Ichthyology) @ 100%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
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