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Similar observations have been made on the faviid <i>Plesiastrea
versipora </i>(Ritchie et al., 1997, Proc. 6th International Conference
on Coelenterate Biology, pp. 403-408) after artificial damage (with a
toothbrush) which removed about 50% of the tissue. Polyps were
observed to be damaged but to withdraw into the calices. Colonies
treated this way regained normal rates of photosynthesis and respiration
(per algal cell) in 7 days, regenerated to the point where the skeleton
was completely covered and the polyps appeared normal in 2 to 4 weeks,
and survived at least a year. Regeneration was seen in aquaria and
also in corals returned to the field after brushing.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Rosalind Hinde<br>
<br>
At 10:47 15/09/00 +0200, you wrote:<br>
>Hi all, <br>
>I don't know if these messages were supposed to be on the list or
not...but<br>
>I'd like to add my own "two cents worth". <br>
>The phenomenon of tissue regrowth from residual tissues found in
corals<br>
>with deep set calices has been recorded as well for free living
fungiid<br>
>corals by Paul Jokiel and Dave Krupp as pertaining to "fresh
water kills"<br>
>as well as colonial species as Cindy pointed out. Sorry I missed the
SICB<br>
>meeting would have liked to hear more. In our own work on
fungiids here in<br>
>the Red Sea we (Yossi Loya and myself) also reported how
experimentally<br>
>induced tissue damage as well as "tissue only" explants
caused the<br>
>development of new anthocauli. We also noticed similar phenomena of
tissue<br>
>regrowth in some Acroporid and Faviid species following apparent
tissue<br>
>denuding. It seem that these corals are proving to be quite
resilient. Many<br>
>questions arise such as are the tissues regrowing to fill the
original<br>
>calices or do they use the calices as guides for further
perhaps light<br>
>calcification? Are we sure that during these stresses tissues are
not<br>
>simply retracting into the calices as reported by Bown et al 1994 for
heat<br>
>stress in Coeloseris.<br>
>At any rate I agree that this a fascinating area and hope to hear
more<br>
>about it in Bali.<br>
>Cheers<br>
>Esti Kramarsky-Winter <br>
<br>
<font color="#008000">*</font><font color="#000080">*************************************************************************************<br>
Associate Professor Rosalind Hinde,<br>
Head of
School,<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><br>
School of Biological Sciences,
A08,<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>email:
rhinde@bio.usyd.edu.au<br>
University of Sydney, N.S.W.
2006,<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>tel.
: +612-9351-2277<br>
Australia.
fax : +612-9351-4119<br>
**************************************************************************************<br>
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