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Forever fissiparous: asexual propagation and stable demography in a tropical and geographically isolated asterinid sea star

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Abstract

Sea stars of the family Asterinidae are well known for their diverse life history strategies encompassing sexual reproduction through various larval forms, while others, all multi-armed species, through clonal asexual reproduction. For at least 25 years, a geographically isolated population of the minute (radius < 7 mm) tropical Pacific fissiparous asterinid, Ailsastra heteractis, has been locally abundant in a shallow water coral rubble habitat at One Tree Island, southern Great Barrier Reef. The population biology of this sea star was investigated over 14 years to characterise its asexual reproduction through fission (splitting in half) and to determine whether a size threshold is reached for an expected switch to sexual reproduction. Fission followed by regeneration was the dominant propagation mechanism generating individuals that varied in arm number (2–7) and length (0.5–6.9 mm). Recently split individuals were present year round with regenerating individuals being the most prevalent body form. Growth rates and fission activity, as measured by mean arm length, varied among months but with no overall pattern. Analyses of arm length data based on season indicated that fission activity was lowest in autumn. There was a positive correlation between the incidence of fission and air and water temperature with a decrease in the proportion of recently split individuals in winter and an increase in summer. Fission was present in all size classes with no evidence of a switch to a larger sexual morphotype with growth. Juvenile recruitment from sexual reproduction was not evident. Extensive searches did not reveal the presence of other populations of A. heteractis. The absence of recruitment and reproductive organs coupled with a stable population demography indicates that propagation by fission is the only reproductive mechanism for the A. heteractis population.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the staff of One Tree Island Research Station, a facility of the University of Sydney, and to the Australian Museum for access to collections. Thanks to Dr. Frank Rowe who assisted with species identification and colleagues that assisted and provided photographs in particular, Dr. Mary Sewell, Dr. Alan Dartnall, Dr. Aline Martinez and Neal Asthana. The reviewers are also thanked for insightful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Matthew Clements & Maria Byrne

  2. Marine Spatial Ecology Lab, School of Biological Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Kennedy Wolfe

  3. School of Life and Environmental Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Kit Schwartz & Maria Byrne

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  1. Matthew Clements
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Correspondence to Kennedy Wolfe.

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All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Clements, M., Wolfe, K., Schwartz, K. et al. Forever fissiparous: asexual propagation and stable demography in a tropical and geographically isolated asterinid sea star. Mar Biol 166, 69 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-019-3518-0

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