Institute of Marine Environment and Ecology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan.
Commun Biol. 2024 Sep 5;7(1):1093. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06799-x.
A sex change phenomenon was reported in some free-living, non-sessile coral species of the Family Fungiidae. However, there are no reports describing sex change in sessile colonial species. Timing and cellular processes of sex change are also unclear in corals. Here, we report sex change of the colonial coral, Fimbriaphyllia ancora, and its cellular process. Of 26 colonies monitored at Nanwan Bay, southern Taiwan, about 70% changed their sex every year after annual spawning for least 3-4 consecutive years, i.e., colonies that were male two years ago became female last year, and male again this year. The remaining 30% were permanently male or female. Sex-change and non-sex-change colonies grew in close proximity or even side-by-side. No significant differences were found in colony size between sex-change and non-sex-change colonies. Histological analysis showed that, in female-to-male sex change, small oocytes were present up to 3 months in some gonads after spawning and disappeared by 5 months. This suggests that sex change occurred 4-5 months after spawning. In contrast, in male-to-female sex change, oocytes appeared weeks after sperm release and in most gonads by 3 months, suggesting that male-to-female sex change occurred 0-3 months after sperm release.
有报道称，在某些自由生活、非固着的石珊瑚科真菌属物种中存在性别转变现象。然而，目前尚无关于固着群体物种性别转变的报道。珊瑚中的性别转变的时间和细胞过程也不清楚。在这里，我们报告了群体珊瑚 Fimbriaphyllia ancora 的性别转变及其细胞过程。在台湾南部的南湾监测到的 26 个群体中，大约 70%的群体在每年产卵后每年都会发生性别转变，至少连续 3-4 年，即两年前为雄性的群体去年变为雌性，今年又变为雄性。其余 30%为永久性雄性或雌性。性别转变和非性别转变的群体生长在附近，甚至并排生长。性别转变和非性别转变的群体之间在群体大小上没有发现显著差异。组织学分析表明，在雌性到雄性的性别转变中，一些生殖腺在产卵后 3 个月内仍存在小卵母细胞，到 5 个月时消失。这表明性别转变发生在产卵后 4-5 个月。相比之下，在雄性到雌性的性别转变中，卵母细胞在精子释放后数周出现，并在 3 个月内出现在大多数生殖腺中，表明雄性到雌性的性别转变发生在精子释放后 0-3 个月。
