Daytime broadcast spawning in crypticPocilloporaspecies at Mo’orea, French Polynesia

Abstract

Pocilloporaare abundant branching corals that create 3-dimensional reef structure. In French Polynesia, when corals were decimated by crown-of-thorns, bleaching, and a cyclone between 2007-2010,Pocilloporarecruitment primarily drove recovery by 2016, yet spawning times are undocumented. To address this, we surveyedPocilloporain Moorea between September 2022-January 2023. We documented split-spawning around the full moons, with one colony spawning November 10th (06:32, full moon+3days) and reef-wide spawning December 9th (06:16-06:32; full moon+2days) and December 10th (06:21-06:35; full moon+3days). Molecular analysis (n=16) identified 100% asP. meandrina, with 13 as Haplotype 1a and 3 as Haplotype 8a, suggestingP. verrucosa, P. grandis, and Haplotype 10 spawn on the new moon or in later months. These observations provide initial documentation ofPocilloporaspawning in Moorea (to our knowledge), expanding on indigenous knowledge and increasing capacity to studyPocilloporareproduction, connectivity, and adaptation.

Effect of coral‐giant clam artificial reef on coral recruitment: insights for restoration and conservation efforts

“…The high abundance of these recruits in Moorea is attributed to the substantial density of Poccillopora on the outer reef slope (Adjeroud 1997), in addition to their biological characteristics, such as an important production of larvae and high potential of colonization (Magalon et al 2005;Adjeroud et al 2007a). It is worth noting that P. acuta releases monthly larvae all year round while other Pocilloporidae species have a yearly production of larvae (Puisay et al 2021;Harnay & Putnam 2023) which could potentially explain the high abundance of Pocilloridae recruits through local recruitment.…”