Fine Structure of the Regenerating Sites of the Stalk in a Solitary Coral Fungia fungites after Decalcification of the Skeleton

Abstract

A solitary coral Fungia fungites (Scleractinia, Fungiidae) reproduces by two ways. Sexual increase by planulation and asexual increase by detaching a disc from a stalk or budding [1]. It is known that the disc detachment is carried out by means of decalcification of the skeleton by the coral itself [2]. During the process of decalcification, the ordinary hard and translucent skeletons turn into weak, opaque and pulverized ones. After detachment, the stalk loses mouth and tentacles which are held on the disc. A new disc is formed not by budding but by direct re-growth of the corresponding structures in the stalk in Fungia sp. [3][4], However, initial hard structural changes of the regenerating stalk of the coral have not been investigated.