Pocillopora meandrinadaytime broadcast spawning in Moorea, French Polynesia

Abstract

AbstractPocilloporaare abundant branching corals that create 3-dimensional reef structure. In French Polynesia, when corals were decimated by crown-of-thorns, bleaching, and a cyclone between 2007-2010,Pocilloporarecruitment primarily drove recovery by 2016, yet spawning times are undocumented. To address this, we surveyedPocilloporain Moorea between September 2022-January 2023. We documented split-spawning around the full moons, with one colony spawning November 10th (06:32, full moon+3days) and reef-wide spawning December 9th (06:16-06:32; full moon+2days) and December 10th (06:21-06:35; full moon+3days). Molecular analysis (n=16) identified 100% asP. meandrina, with 13 as Haplotype 1a and 3 as Haplotype 8a, suggestingP. verrucosa, P. grandis, and Haplotype 10 spawn on the new moon or in later months. These observations provide initial documentation ofPocilloporaspawning in Moorea (to our knowledge), expanding on indigenous knowledge and increasing capacity to studyPocilloporareproduction, connectivity, and adaptation.