Non-bleached colonies of massive Porites may attract fishes for selective grazing during mass bleaching events

Eri Ikeuchi; Yoshikazu Ohno; Akira Iguchi; Takashi Nakamura

doi:10.7717/peerj.3470

Non-bleached colonies of massive Porites may attract fishes for selective grazing during mass bleaching events

PeerJ. 2017 Jun 30:5:e3470. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3470. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Eri Ikeuchi¹, Yoshikazu Ohno², Akira Iguchi³, Takashi Nakamura^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Chemistry, Biology, and Marine Sciences Course, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan.
² Marine Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan.
³ Department of Bioresources Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Okinawa College, Nago, Okinawa, Japan.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Science, Faculty of Science and Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan.
⁵ Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)/Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) SATREPS, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

In this study we investigated the variation in grazing scar densities between bleached and non-bleached colonies of massive Porites species in Sekisei Lagoon (Okinawa, southwestern Japan) during a mass bleaching event in 2016. The grazing scar densities and bleaching susceptibility varied among neighboring colonies of massive Porites spp. However, non-bleached colonies had significantly more surface scars than bleached colonies. One explanation for these variations is that corallivorous fishes may selectively graze on non-bleached, thermally tolerant colonies. This is the first report of a relationship between grazing scars and the bleaching status of massive Porites spp. colonies during a mass bleaching event.

Keywords: Coral bleaching; Corallivorous fish; Fish grazing; Massive Porites.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)/Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) SATREPS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.