The Fragment Nephthea sp. and Propagation of Euphyllia paradivisa in Tank 72

Caroline BuffingtonEmma Smith

Introduction

• unidentified brown anemone overtaken tank

• abundance of Nephthea sp. has not been able to outcompete anemone effectively

• frag Nephthea sp. to create more space for propagation of Euphyllia paradivisa

Introduction

• Nephthea sp. categorized soft coral (Allen,2002)

• Nephthea sp. lack of calcium carbonate skeleton- able to grow rapidly (Allen, 2002)

• E. Paradivisa- branching coral with T-shaped polyp tips that extends from each branch (Borneman, 2001)

• E. Paradivisia- LPS coral- most powerful sting of aquarium coral, most aggressive tendencies (Gay)

Introduction

1. When the Nephthea sp. is propagated, and placed in other tanks, will its methods of competition fair better than in tank 72?

2. What will be the brown anemone's way to defend itself against the E. paradivisa, if at all possible?

3. Will the E. paradivisa use growth, toxins, or both to outcompete the anemone (Hii)?

4. Has the unidentified brown anemone become resistant to the Nephthea sp. toxins (Coll, 1982)?

5. In addition to a new a combative coral, what other biological or chemical controls can be added to tank 72 to challenge the brown anemone's growth?

Introduction

Hypothesis: By fragmenting and removing the

Nephthea sp., the later introduction and propagation of E. paradivisa will outcompete the unidentified brown anemone.

Methods

Schedule:

• learn how to frag and propagatecorals during tutorial

• take daily/ weekly measurements of coral growth and anemone retraction (sharpie)

• take picture as well to monitor coral growth/ anemone retraction

• record daily observations and activity of the corals in the tank

Methods

Supplies and Equipment:

• Camera

• Sharpie

• Propagating tools

• Fragging tools

• Coral plugs

• Seashells or live rock

• Glue or putty

Methods

Data collection: • Used monthly photos to monitor the growth of

the E. paradivisa present in tanks

• Used daily records to track when the tentacles of the E. paradivisa were extended

Results

Review of research questions: 1. Did not propagating Nephthea sp.- did not put it in

other tanks-not focus of project- ended up leaving in tank 72

2. Brown anemone grew around base of E. paradivisa3. E. paradivisa often seen with tentacles extended- usually combative/aggressive sign4. No- extreme growth of Nephthea in tank 725. Addition of mushroom coral- ended up nottracking growth of this coral

Results

Challenges/ Success:

• difficult to record growth of corals daily- such a slow growth in the E. paradivisa

• how do we quantitatively measure growth of E. paradivisa?

• How do we know if E. paradivisa is using toxins to combat brown anemone?

• Able to clearly record the growth of the anemone on the base of E. paradivisa frag

Results

Success of Different Corals Versus the Brown Anemone:

This figure essentially presents the aggression of the different corals which we focused on in our tank between December 2012- April 2013.

Results

Success of Different Corals Versus the Brown Anemone:

This figure presents the percentage of time in which the corals we focused on in our tank were not actively combating the brown anemone from December 2012-April 2013.

Results

Growth of middle hammer branch coral from October 2012 to March 2013

Discussion

• Hypothesis was not supported by the data and observations that we recorded

• E. paradivisa was slow growing in our tank- difficult to quantitatively measure (as shown in data collection)

• brown anemone grew on the base of the frags- in turn it outcompeted the E. paradivisa

• Because we did not remove Nephthea sp. it actually grew more rapidly and began to overtake the tank

Discussion

Conclusions:

• Based off the data, E. paradivisa does not grow rapidly enough to out compete the anemone for space

• Based off the data, it was difficult to conclude when/if the E. paradivisa released toxins to combat the anemone

• Based off sources, we should have known that the Nephthea sp. would have been a more productive coral in stopping the spread/ growth of the anemone (Allen)

Discussion

Challenges:

• last week in October- power went outo resulted in consistently low salinities and

temperatureso took a week to recover salinity and

temperature temperatures back to normal

• Unable to legitimately measure whether or not corals were fending off brown anemoneo cannot measure the utilization of nematocysts

Discussion

• In order to have made the research more complete we could have:

1. taken pictures of the E. paradivisa frags in the same place in order to better calculate their growth

2. Tracked the growth of the anemone up the base of the frags of E. paradivisa

Discussion

Data related to overall concepts:

• Our data relates to the big picture because it shows that LPS (large polyp stony) corals, although aggressive, tend to be slow growing

Value/ Application of our results:

• Based off of our results, we would recommend the use of the Nephthea sp. to further combat the anemone because of it's rapid growth and production

Discussion

Future direction:

• If we were to continue this project, we would want to research another species of coral and see how it reacted to the anemone as well as the other corals present in the tank

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