Factors influencing the abundance of the seven-spined morphotype of Spirobranchus polycerus (Schmarda), (Serpulidae), on upright blades of the hydrozoan coral, Millepora complanata

Abstract

This study, on the seven-spined morphotype of Spirobranchus polycerus, a serpulid polychaete commensal with the hydrozoan coral Millepora complanata Lamarck examines live worm abundance, net recruitment and the probability of mortality, on single blades of coral at four Barbados fringing reefs, Heron Bay (HB), Greensleeves (G), Sandridge (S) and Six Men's Bay (SMB). Variation in the number of worms blade^-1 over the part 5 to 12 yr, is explained largely by variation in mortality at HB, and largely by variation in recruitment at SMB. At G and S the relative importance of these two factors appears to have shifted with time. A smaller number of worms blade^-1 at SMB than at HB, G or S, may be a consequence of a recruitment limited to the past 1 to 4 yr, which, in turn, may partly explain the interdependence of effects of reef and blade size class on recruitment and mortality. The relationship between level of recruitment and blade base perimeter suggests that the availability of recruits has been consistently high at HB over the past 5 to 12 yr and has increased at G and S in the past 1 to 4 yr. The situation is consistent with a worm population gradually extending northward, dependent on a pool of larvae to the south and limited by a tendency to lose larvae in the north west drift. Because of periodic destruction of tall coral blades in heavy seas, mortality in the seven-spined S. polycerus is, in part, a result of the commensal relationship between the polychaete and the coral. Selection for simultaneous hermaphroditism may be a response to the short life-span of the seven-spined form of S. polycerus and the isolation of breeding individuals resulting from the natural destruction and discontinuous distribution of the host coral.