Stony corals catch zooplankton within days of settlement and metamorph

[Harlequinmania]

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We all know how important proper feeding is for corals. Properly fed corals are more robust and healthy and zooplankton capture can even help them recover faster from bleaching episodes.  One thing researchers did not know until recently, though, was how soon corals actually begin feeding on zooplankton after settlement and metamorphosis into polyps.

Published recently in the journal Coral Reefs, researchers Cumbo, Fan, and Edmunds investigated this question and published the results in their paper “Scleractinian corals capture zooplankton within days of settlement and metamorphosis.”

Their research centered on the scleractinian coral Seriatopora caliendrum, a coral that is known to actively feed on Artemia nauplii.  They found that S. caliendrum was able to successfully capture and ingest Artemia within eight days of recruitment.  As Artemia swam by, the tiny coral polyps were able to stretch out their tentacles, capture the nauplii (supposedly with nematocysts) and pull them into their mouths within 10-20 minutes.  One polyp was even observed to pull five Artemia into its mouth within one hour. Talk about an appetite!

This study again underlines the importance of properly feeding the animals in our care.

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