Brief description
This dataset contains spreadsheets on crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) coral consumption, reproductive morphometrics, and larval development as part of experiments to investigate maternal provisioning in this species.
Full description
This dataset comes from tank and laboratory larval rearing experiments carried out to examine the role of experimental variation in maternal nutrition (comparing between individuals that were starved, fed on preferred corals and fed on generally non-preferred coral prey) on the growth and development of starved larvae. The effect of maternal nutrition on the following aspects of A. planci reproduction and larval development are specifically addressed in this study: (1) adult female morphometrics before and after treatment; (2) gonad and pyloric caeca indexes; (3) egg size and shape; (4) fertilization rates; (5) early larval growth; (6) larval survival; and (7) larval development. Nine female A. planci were kept in individual plastic bins with flow through ambient seawater at the University of Guam - Marine Laboratory. Three starfish were assigned to each of three feeding treatments for 60 days: i) Starved (no food); ii) Acropora (fed with Acropora abrotanoides); and iii) Porites (fed with Porites rus). During the course of the study we recorded change in the individual diameter (ΔD) and weight (ΔW) of starfish in each treatment. At the end of the feeding treatments, the weight of gonads (GW) and pyloric caeca (PCW) for each individual was recorded and gonad (GI) and pyloric caeca (PCI) indices were calculated. Gonads were dissected from each female starfish and induced to spawn. Released oocytes were collected and egg diameter, volume, and sphericity were measured. A subsample of eggs were fertilized with sperm combined from five male A. planci. One hundred eggs were examined and eggs with raised fertilization envelopes were counted and percent fertilization was calculated. Fertilized eggs from the nine females were separately reared in triplicates and after 24 hours, 60 actively swimming gastrulae were siphoned into separate glass culture jars. Surviving larvae in each jar, regardless of developmental stage, were counted daily for eight days. After four days, 10 normally developing larvae from each jar were photographed under a microscope and total length, width, and stomach area were measured using ImageJ. Surviving larvae were categorized into the following developmental stages after eight days: early bipinnaria, advanced bipinnaria, early brachiolaria, and abnormal (stunted, deformed) development. The percentage of normally developing larvae after eight days was also calculated.
Notes
This dataset is available as a spreadsheet in MS Excel (.xlsx) and Open Document format (.ods)
Created: 2016-03-08
text: 13.565360°N, 144.819119°E
text: Ague Point reef, Guam
text: Crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) were collected from Ague Point reef, northwest Guam. Experiments were conducted at the University of Guam - Marine Laboratory, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam, USA.
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- Local : 2a9fb061ed27b3df699867e49992fc1a
- Local : https://research.jcu.edu.au/data/published/e3bc08e300ede22a16dc324ddbdb8bee
- DOI : 10.4225/28/56E622E699A75
