CoralReproduction: Difference between revisions
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= Coral Reproduction = | = Coral Reproduction = | ||
*Sexual vs. asexual reproduction (cloning) | |||
Also came across this interesting tidbit from http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129838&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click | |||
<blockquote> | |||
Jorge Cortes remembered that several years ago a scientist had reported finding that some corals are a target of biting triggerfish. | |||
"That was the missing piece," Baums says. "We realized that triggerfish were eating the mussels inside the coral skeletons. To get at the mussels, the fish have to bite the coral. | |||
"They then spit out the fragments, and those fragments land on the ocean floor and grow into new coral colonies. | |||
"No one had realized how important fish might be in helping corals reproduce. Now there's evidence that triggerfish attacks on Porites evermanni result in asexual reproduction--the coral fragments cloning themselves." | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Someone should track down this study and find out more of the details. | |||
Revision as of 08:29, 13 December 2013
Coral Reproduction
- Sexual vs. asexual reproduction (cloning)
Also came across this interesting tidbit from http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129838&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
Jorge Cortes remembered that several years ago a scientist had reported finding that some corals are a target of biting triggerfish.
"That was the missing piece," Baums says. "We realized that triggerfish were eating the mussels inside the coral skeletons. To get at the mussels, the fish have to bite the coral.
"They then spit out the fragments, and those fragments land on the ocean floor and grow into new coral colonies.
"No one had realized how important fish might be in helping corals reproduce. Now there's evidence that triggerfish attacks on Porites evermanni result in asexual reproduction--the coral fragments cloning themselves."
Someone should track down this study and find out more of the details.