Surface flow for colonial integration in reef-building corals

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.054
• Publication Date: 2022-05-12T20:33:08Z
• Authors: Thibault Bouderlique; Julian Petersen; Louis Faure; Daniel Abed-Navandi; Anass Bouchnita; Benjamin Mueller; Murtazo Nazarov; Lukas Englmaier; Marketa Tesarova; Pedro R. Frade; Tomas Zikmund; Till Koehne; Jozef Kaiser; Kaj Fried; Christian Wild; Olga Pantos; Andreas Hellander; John Bythell; Igor Adameyko
• Keywords: Ekologi; 0106 biological sciences; colony integration; Ecology; Coral Reefs; Scleractinian coral; Marine engineering; Environment; Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology); Anthozoa; 01 natural sciences; Species Specificity; mucus; gastrovascular system; Animals; surface hydrodynamics; 14. Life underwater; cnidarian; coral

Reef-building corals are endangered animals with a complex colonial organization. Physiological mechanisms connecting multiple polyps and integrating them into coral colony still enigmatic. Using live imaging, particle tracking, mathematical modeling, we reveal how connect individual form integrated polyp groups via species-specific, complex, stable networks of currents at their surface. These involve surface mucus different concentrations, which regulate joint feeding the colony. Inside coral, within gastrovascular system, expose complexity bidirectional branching streams that polyps. This system canals extends area by 4-fold might improve communication, nutrient supply, symbiont transfer. Thus, integrate liquid dynamics on inside