Although octocorals are important components of coral reefs, most research on the genetic diversity of symbiotic zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium spp.) has focused on scleractinian (stony) corals. For both groups, most geographic comparisons have occurred within the same ocean or only included a few geographic sites. We characterized the genetic diversity of Symbiodinium in tropical octocorals in 15...

The focus of this paper is to provide an overview of historical and modern accounts of scleractinian evolutionary relationships and classification. Scleractinian evolutionary relationships proposed in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries were based mainly on skeletal data. More in-depth observations of the coral skeleton showed that the gross-morphology could be highly confusing. Pr...

Small, random deviations from perfect syrnmetry.(referred to as fluctuating asymmetry, or FA) are considered to be a result of minor developmental accidents, and have been shown to reflect the developmental stability of an organism and the influence of the environment upon it. FA theory has mostly been applied to bilaterally symmetrical animals and plants, with only a few published studies of r...

A salp swarm was observed in Director’s Bay, Curaçao July 2021, where salps were caught and consumed by three scleractinian colonial reef corals: Madracis auretenra, Locke, Weil & Coates, 2017; Meandrina meandrites (Linnaeus, 1758), Montastraea cavernosa 1767). The first two scleractinians are newly recorded salpivores. Since the coral polyps collaborating, predation not restricted polyp si...

Coral diseases have caused a substantial decline in the biodiversity and abundance of reef-building corals. To date, more than 30 distinct diseases of scleractinian corals have been reported, which cause progressive tissue loss and/or affect coral growth, reproductive capacity, recruitment, species diversity and the abundance of reef-associated organisms. While coral disease research has increa...

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) are considered to be among the most pristine coral reef ecosystems remaining on the planet. These reefs naturally contain a high percent cover of algal functional groups with relatively low coral abundance and exhibit thriving fish communities dominated by top predators. Despite their highly protected status, these reefs are at risk from both direct and ...

[1] In this study we use microsampling techniques to explore diagenetic processes in carbonates. These processes are important as they can affect the accuracy of U series chronometry. Fission track maps of deep-sea scleractinian corals show a threefold difference between the minimum and maximum [U] in modern corals, which is reduced to a factor of 2 in fossil corals. We use micromilling and MC-...

Anthropogenic increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration have caused global average sea surface temperature (SST) to increase by approximately 0.11°C per decade between 1971 and 2010 - a trend that is projected to continue through the 21st century. A multitude of research studies have demonstrated that increased SSTs compromise the coral holobiont (cnidarian host and its symbiotic al...

Sexual reproduction of scleractinian coral is among the most important means of establishing coral populations. However, thus far, little is known about the mechanisms underlying coral gametogenesis. To better understand coral germ cell development, we performed a histological analysis of gametogenesis in Euphyllia ancora and characterized the coral homolog of the Drosophila germline marker gen...

Marine ecosystems worldwide are threatened by aquatic pollution; however, there is a paucity in data from the Caribbean region. As such, five heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, copper, zinc, mercury) were measured in tissues of the scleractinian corals Porites furcata and Agaricia tenuifolia and in adjacent sediments in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama. Samples were collected from five reef ...