Journal
MARINE AND FRESHWATER BEHAVIOUR AND PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 46, Issue 5, Pages 313-320Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/10236244.2013.832890
Keywords
coral; scleractinian; juvenile; feeding strategies; zooplankton; Artemia salina; video sequences
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Funding
- Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund
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Heterotrophy is essential for meeting the metabolic requirements of scleractinian corals but the feeding mechanisms of coral juveniles are poorly understood. In this study, we observed that two-day-old Pocillopora damicornis recruits were able to immobilize and capture Artemia salina nauplii that come into direct contact with their tentacles. The recruits were able to consume up to sixnaupliih(-1) and the shortest time required to fully ingest one nauplius was 1min25s. This is the first study to describe the feeding mechanisms employed by coral recruits, and provided both observational and quantitative evidence to show that coral juveniles are able to commence heterotrophy at an early stage.
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