EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF GROWTH AND ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN DIASERIS-DISTORTA (MICHELIN, 1843), A FREE-LIVING FUNGIID CORAL

A solitary, free-living fungiid coral, Diaseris distorta, was reared i n an aquarium and X-radiographed monthly for one year to study growth and asexual reproduction. The corals were treated three ways: 1) hand- split along radially oriented slits, 2) cut into pieces with scissors, and 3) reared without manipulation. The number of corals increased wi th time by radial fragmentation, a result of natural autotomy. Fragmen ts, both control and hand-split, generated equal numbers of daughter s egments. Corals that were cut produced more regenerated segments than control or hand-split corals because the cut corals provided a greater periphery from which daughter segments could regenerate. Growth rate was size-dependent. After fragmentation, the founder segment ceased ho rizontal growth until the new, regenerating segments gained nearly the same size as the founder segment. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.