Seasonal, lunar, and diel patterns in spawning by the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta
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Seasonal, lunar, and diel patterns in spawning by the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta K. L. Neely1
•
C. B. Butler2
Received: 16 March 2020 / Accepted: 29 September 2020 Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Temporal patterns in giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta) spawning were compiled from 32 observations spanning 17 years and three Caribbean locations (Florida, Belize, and Haiti). The records were analyzed for patterns in seasonality, lunar periodicity, and diel rhythm to develop a predictive spawning window. Results indicate that spawning is concentrated from mid-April to late May. Most spawning events occurred around the first quarter moon; a smaller pulse occurred just before the third quarter moon. All spawning events were observed in the morning and fell within 779–987 min of the previous night’s sunset. Eggs of X. muta were all negatively buoyant and blanketed the areas within and surrounding the sponge; this limited gamete dispersal may be the driver behind heavily localized genetic retention. Keywords Barrel sponge Xestospongia muta Spawning Lunar cycle Sexual reproduction
Topic Editor Anastazia Teresa Banaszak
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-02009-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & K. L. Neely [email protected] 1
Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Nova Southeastern University, 8000 N Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL 33004, USA
2
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 2796 Overseas Highway, Suite 119, Marathon, FL 33050, USA
Introduction The giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta, is a conspicuous component of Caribbean coral reef systems. Sponges are important in water filtration, nutrient cycling, colonizing substrate, and creating habitat (Bell 2008), and X. muta contributes substantially to the number of individuals as well as the total biomass of sponges on Caribbean reefs (Zea 1993; Loh and Pawlik 2014). Individuals frequently exceed one meter in height, and, based on growth rates, age estimates of the largest individuals exceed 2000 years (McMurray et al. 2008). Across multiple spatial scales, population genetic studies demonstrate high rates of local retention by X. muta. Clustering is evident across 1000 s of kilometers between Caribbean locations (Richards et al. 2016), across 100 s of kilometers between regions of the Florida Reef Tract (Bernard et al. 2019) and across meters within sites in the Florida Keys (Deignan et al. 2018). Stability of those populations requires successful sexual reproduction, yet little is known about the reproduction of X. muta, with only a single observation of spawning recorded in the literature (Ritson-Williams et al. 2005). This study solicited and compiled additional observations to analyze patterns in spawning across multiple temporal scales.
Methods We compiled spawning observations from the single published record as
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