{"title":"Tiger cowrie Cypraea tigris feeds on coral-competing sponge Rhabdastrella globostellata in an Acropora dominated reef of Gulf of Mannar, India","authors":"K. D. Raj, G. Mathews, P. Kumar","doi":"10.1080/10236244.2019.1637701","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Gulf of Mannar (GoM) in the southeast coast of India is known for its coral reefs and reef-associated biodiversity. Corals in GoM were affected to a significant extent by climate change-driven coral bleaching in 2016, and are currently recovering. After the bleaching mortality that corals suffered, the competition for space between corals and sponges is obvious in GoM. Rhabdastrella globostellata is a common marine sponge found overgrowing live coral colonies of the patch reefs in GoM at Pattinamaruthoor in March 2019. Underwater assessment of the reef revealed that 60.06% live coral cover was dominated by Acropora corals (81.91%). Among the acroporans 8.23% of colonies were found overgrown by R. globostellata. During the night dives the tiger cowrie Cypraea tigris was observed to feed on R. globostellata. From this observation the present study infers that C. tigris helps the corals fight these sponges, and concludes that tiger cowries should be protected and promoted to tackle climate change implications.","PeriodicalId":18210,"journal":{"name":"Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology","volume":"51 1","pages":"101 - 105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2019-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"10","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2019.1637701","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 10
Abstract
ABSTRACT Gulf of Mannar (GoM) in the southeast coast of India is known for its coral reefs and reef-associated biodiversity. Corals in GoM were affected to a significant extent by climate change-driven coral bleaching in 2016, and are currently recovering. After the bleaching mortality that corals suffered, the competition for space between corals and sponges is obvious in GoM. Rhabdastrella globostellata is a common marine sponge found overgrowing live coral colonies of the patch reefs in GoM at Pattinamaruthoor in March 2019. Underwater assessment of the reef revealed that 60.06% live coral cover was dominated by Acropora corals (81.91%). Among the acroporans 8.23% of colonies were found overgrown by R. globostellata. During the night dives the tiger cowrie Cypraea tigris was observed to feed on R. globostellata. From this observation the present study infers that C. tigris helps the corals fight these sponges, and concludes that tiger cowries should be protected and promoted to tackle climate change implications.
位于印度东南海岸的马纳尔湾(Gulf of Mannar, GoM)以其珊瑚礁和与珊瑚礁相关的生物多样性而闻名。2016年,墨西哥湾的珊瑚受到气候变化导致的珊瑚白化的严重影响,目前正在恢复。在珊瑚遭受白化死亡之后,珊瑚和海绵之间的空间竞争在墨西哥湾是明显的。globostellata是一种常见的海绵,于2019年3月在Pattinamaruthoor的GoM斑块珊瑚礁上发现了生长在活珊瑚群上的海绵。水下评价结果显示,60.06%的活珊瑚覆盖面积以鹿角珊瑚(81.91%)为主。其中,8.23%的蚁群被巨角蚁覆盖。在夜间潜水时,观察到虎考Cypraea tigris以globostellata为食。根据这一观察结果,本研究推断虎斑螺可以帮助珊瑚对抗这些海绵,并得出结论,虎斑螺应该得到保护和推广,以应对气候变化的影响。
期刊介绍:
Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology is devoted to the publication of papers covering field and laboratory research into all aspects of the behaviour and physiology of all marine and freshwater animals within the contexts of ecology, evolution and conservation.
As the living resources of the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes are attracting increasing attention as food sources for humans and for their role in global ecology, the journal will also publish the results of research in the areas of fisheries biology and technology where the behaviour and physiology described have clear links to the contexts mentioned above.
The journal will accept for publication Research Articles, Reviews, Rapid Communications and Technical Notes (see Instructions for authors for details). In addition, Editorials, Opinions and Book Reviews (invited and suggested) will also occasionally be published. Suggestions to the Editor-In-Chief for Special Issues are encouraged and will be considered on an ad hoc basis.
With the goal of supporting early career researchers, the journal particularly invites submissions from graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. In addition to recognising the time constraints and logistical limitations their research often faces, and their particular need for a prompt review process, accepted articles by such researchers will be given prominence within the journal (see Instructions for authors for details).