Temperature-driven secondary competence windows may increase the dispersal potential of invasive sun corals

Life‐history traits ofTubastraea coccinea: Reproduction, development, and larval competence

“…However, some larvae underwent a metamorphosis in the water column (Figure 5), as previously observed by Richmond (1987), Mizrahi et al. (2014), and Barbosa, Vinagre, Mizrahi, and Flores (2019) for sun corals, and also for P. damicornis (Richmond, 1985).…”

Retirement risks: Invasive coral on old oil platform on the Brazilian equatorial continental shelf

“…Nevertheless, a careful analysis of all platforms (Fig. 2) was fundamental to investigate the hypothesis of spread of invasive corals within in the cluster of four exploration fields, due to the geographical proximity between structures (<20 km), environmental conditions (Carlos-Júnior et al, 2015), and short-term natural dispersion by coral larvae (or groups of polyps) (Jokiel, 1990;Mizrahi et al, 2014;Paula et al, 2014;Barbosa et al, 2019), rafting (wood debris and marine litter) (Mantellato et al, 2020) or associated vessels (Creed et al, 2017;Soares et al, 2020). Data from the other platforms in further studies would be necessary to determine whether they had spread (or not).…”

“…Such preventive measures are imperative because the azooxanthellate invasive coral has the potential to invade the Great Amazon Reef System, and to be either naturally (e.g., polyps or larvae) (Mizrahi et al, 2014;Barbosa et al, 2019) or artificially transported through the marine debris (Mantellato et al, 2020) and intense vessel flow integrating the BES, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coral reefs (Sammarco et al, 2013(Sammarco et al, , 2015. The BES presents strong (average 0.15 m s − 1 ) subtidal currents that can lead to a westward larval advection close to 200 km in 15 days.…”