[Coral-List] Age of clones?

[Charles Delbeek]

We are getting ready to send out coral fragments and excess Entacmaea 
quadricolor anemones and I have a question. When one talks about the age of 
animals, how do you treat clones? For example, all the anemones we have 
originated via fission from a handful of animals collected from Palau in 
1980. So, are these anemones 26 years old ... or do you take their age from 
when they split? The same question applies to corals, we have specimens 
that we have been fragmenting for years, some of which were collected in 
1978 ... so are the fragments that old? Obviously for corals, new polyps 
are being produced and old ones die off, so these would not be almost 30 
years old ... but genetically they are the same as the original polyps .. 
or are they? With anemones, it would be different I think since the 
original tissue is still there.

Dazed and confused in Hawaii....

Aloha!


J. Charles Delbeek M.Sc.
Aquarium Biologist III
Waikiki Aquarium
2777 Kalakaua Ave.
Honolulu, HI, USA 96815
www.waquarium.org

808-923-9741
808-923-1771 FAX