Goffredo Stefano, Marchini Chiara, Rocchi Marta, Airi Valentina, Caroselli Erik, Falini Giuseppe, Levy Oren, Dubinsky Zvy, Zaccanti Francesco
Marine Science Group, Department of Evolutionary and Experimental Biology, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy.
J Morphol. 2012 Sep;273(9):943-56. doi: 10.1002/jmor.20039. Epub 2012 Jun 18.
While knowledge of the reproductive biology of tropical scleractinian corals is extensive, information from temperate zones is limited. The aim of this study is to describe the reproductive biology of Caryophyllia inornata, a temperate species, and to increase the understanding of the reproductive strategies of Mediterranean corals. Samples of C. inornata were collected during SCUBA surveys at Elba island. Sexually active individuals displayed either male or female germ cells, showing a gonochoric sexuality. C. inornata exhibited an unusual pattern of embryogenesis. Embryos appeared throughout the whole year in males and in sexually inactive individuals, and they did not show a seasonal pattern of development, as usually expected for sexual reproduction. This observation suggests the possibility of asexual origin. These embryogenetic sexually inactive individuals were larger in size than the embryogenetic sexually active ones, and they might be senile polyps that preserve the ability to produce embryos only by agamic reproduction.
虽然关于热带石珊瑚生殖生物学的知识很丰富，但来自温带地区的信息却很有限。本研究的目的是描述温带物种无饰石珊瑚的生殖生物学，并增进对地中海珊瑚生殖策略的理解。无饰石珊瑚的样本是在厄尔巴岛的水肺潜水调查中采集的。有性活跃的个体呈现出雄性或雌性生殖细胞，表现为雌雄异体的性别特征。无饰石珊瑚展现出一种不寻常的胚胎发育模式。胚胎在雄性个体和无性活跃个体中全年都有出现，并且它们没有呈现出通常在有性生殖中预期的季节性发育模式。这一观察结果表明了无性起源的可能性。这些胚胎发育的无性活跃个体比胚胎发育的有性活跃个体体型更大，并且它们可能是仅通过无性生殖保留了产生胚胎能力的衰老息肉。
