Asexual Reproduction

Mushroom corals of the genus, Sacrophyton spp., employ several reproductive strategies that include asexual bud production. Asexual budding has been proposed as a mechanism to enable certain corals such as fungiids to recolonize a site following the mortality or injury of a parent polyp (Krupp et al. 1996). This reproductive strategy requires that the stress responsible for the parent injury permit the bud to survive to adults. A recent investigation (Gilmour 2002a) shows that the coral, Fungia fungites, undergoes asexual budding when stressed with acute sedimentation. However, asexual budding could be a last effort strategy for a stressed coral to propagate. Gilmour (2002b) found with genetic analysis that asexual buds made less contribution to the adult population compared to the sexual recruits in an area exposed to chronic and acute sedimentation. This could also be related to differences in settlement preferences between asexual buds and sexual larvae. The following footage shows a fungiid coral releasing an asexual bud in an aquarium environment. Aquarium corals of this genus are known to bud when conditions are suboptimal serving as warning signal of being stressed. Note: during the release of the bud, the coral is folded in and the polyps are retracted, but reopens and extends its polyps after one hour of the buds release. This behavior during budding may be to change hydrostatic pressure to help release the coral's bud.

Credits
Cinematography: Neilan Kuntz
Edited by: Neilan Kuntz
Written by: Neilan Kuntz
Location: San Diego State University (2004)

Gilmour, J. P. (2002a) Acute sedimentation causes size-specific mortality and asexual budding in the mushroom coral, Fungia fungites. Marine and Freshwater Research 53: 805-812.

Gilmour, J. P. (2002b) Substantial asexual recruitment of mushroom coral contributes little to population genetics of adults in conditions of chronic sedimentation. Marine Ecology Progress Series 235: 81-91.

Krupp, D. A., Jokiel, P. L. and Chartrand, T. S. (1996) Asexual reproduction by the solitary scleractinian coral Fungi scutaria on dead parent coralla in Kanehoe Bay, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Coral Reef Symposium 1: 527-534.

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Science & Technology

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• asexualbudding
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[cjrules777]

@acasterella Thanks you stupid faggot. Reading that comment was a waste of my life. Go die you dirty slut.

[acasterella]

i like budding

[acasterella]

thats cool

i like how the coral realeses from