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Seasonality in reproduction of the deep-water pennatulacean coral Anthoptilum grandiflorum

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Abstract

The deep-sea pennatulacean coral Anthoptilum grandiflorum exhibits a cosmopolitan distribution and was recently determined to serve as habitat for other invertebrates and fish larvae in the northwest Atlantic. Colonies collected at bathyal depths between 2006 and 2010 in eastern Canada were analysed to determine their fecundity and characterize spatial and temporal trends in their reproductive cycle. Anthoptilum grandiflorum is a gonochoric broadcast spawner with a sex ratio that does not differ significantly from equality (although one hermaphrodite colony was observed). In male colonies, all the spermatocysts synthesized become mature over the annual cycle, while only ~21 % of the initial production of oocytes reaches maturity in female colonies. Female potential fecundity based on mature oocytes just before spawning was on average 13 oocytes polyp−1; male potential fecundity was 48 spermatocysts polyp−1. The spawning period of A. grandiflorum differs between geographic regions, from April (in southern Newfoundland) to July (in Labrador), closely following regional spring phytoplankton blooms after accounting for the deposition of planktic detritus. Release of oocytes by a live colony held in the laboratory was recorded in April 2011, coincident with field data for similar latitudes. Seawater temperatures at the time of spawning were around 3.6–4.8 °C in all regions and in the laboratory. Early stages of gametogenesis were detected in colonies collected shortly after the spawning season, and early and late growth stages occurred successively until December. Mature colonies were observed between April and July (depending on latitude). The diameter of mature oocytes (~1,100 μm maximum diameter) is consistent with lecithotrophic larval development.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the scientific staff of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard for helping us with sampling on board of the CCGS Teleost. We would also like to thank the ROPOS team for helping us collect the ROV data, and I. Dimitrove and K. Zipperlen for their assistance with histological processing. The constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers helped us improve this contribution. This study was partly funded by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to A. Mercier.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada

    Sandrine Baillon & Annie Mercier

  2. Society for the Exploration and Valuing of the Environment (SEVE), St. Philips, NL, A1M 2B7, Canada

    Jean-François Hamel

  3. Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X1, Canada

    Vonda E. Wareham

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  1. Sandrine Baillon
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  2. Jean-François Hamel
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Correspondence to Sandrine Baillon.

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Communicated by J. P. Grassle.

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Baillon, S., Hamel, JF., Wareham, V.E. et al. Seasonality in reproduction of the deep-water pennatulacean coral Anthoptilum grandiflorum . Mar Biol 161, 29–43 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2311-8

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