Mass Mortality of Paramuricea Clavata (Anthozoat Cnidaria) on Portofino

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Mass Mortality of Paramuricea Clavata (Anthozoat Cnidaria) on Portofino Mar.Lile 1994'Vol.4 (1 ) : 15'19 Massmortality of paramuriceaclavata (Anthozoat cnidaria) on PortofinoProlnontorY cliffs, LigurianSea, Mediterranean Sea ' Mortalite ntassivecle Paranruricea clavata (Atilltozoa, Cnidaria) nter Méditerranée surla falaiseclu prontontoirede Portofirt(),tner Ligttrienne, Carlo Cerrano*' Ciorgio Bavestrello*,Stefatlia Bertone**, lì,ic.tarclo Cattaneo-Vietti*, EldaCaino*, Daniclc Zanzi***' 16126cenova * lstitutc.rtli Zoologia clell'Urriversitiì tli cerrov.r, via ualbi,5,l- XV,10, | - 16132Cenova ** lstirutodi Microbiologio?"fi'Ú"i""rsitàcliCenov.r, Viale Benedetto *** Acuuariodi C",.,uuu,Area porto Antictr, l,.,rrte Spinola, l- 16123Cenova zoobenthos marin, nter Méditerranée' Motsclés : gorgonaire-s,Pararrruricea clavata, mortalité trt;tssive, zoobenthos' Mediterranean Sea' Key-words : gorgonians,Paramuricea clavata, massn'rort,tliIy, ntarine ABSTRACT (ì;tirn, D' Z'trtzi, 1!)94 - Massrttortality of Paranrurice'rclavat'l IJ;tvestrt'lloC.,5. tsertone,R. Caltaneo-Vietti,C. Cerrano, E. Sea'Mar' Life,4 (1) : 15 - l9' (Arilltozoa,Crticlaria) or''po,ì1rriii'o p,ion',rrntory cliífs, Ligtrrian-Se;r. Mtr/ife'ranean pararrrurice.r clavata on the Portofínct Promontory is reported' A, extrente caseof ntass ntorta!ity of the sea fan ttt clcpthrtytge, underwent a clegenerative During Octobertg% a'o,uito,óoo seafans, livinl4 irr llrc20 tt-t.J5 front tlrcg<trgonians' branchcs' Altrtttl wlticlt ,our"i'li" 1,r:rr14,:"rrir"cletac'hntenì of iltt'<'<t.rr<:trchynra ,rocess, th;ttart irtcreasein thisnorlality trt'ty B0 %,of the affecteclcolotries were reducec!ro a bart,.ll ttr,tyI:c assunted sedinerttlocatly. Specific artalysis has be rel,ttecltoa violentstornt thatcausec! a ctrip"ii s;aliniryti<!sti-sperrc/ed provicledno evidenceof bac'terialinvolvement' nÉsutvtÉ (ì,tirtrt, z,tttzi,1!)94 - ntassivec/e I'aranruric('a cln- BavestrelloG.,5. Ilertone,R. (.rfLrrrco-vietti,C. Cerran<t,t. l)' l/\4ort'tlilé tìrc)rLigurienne, tner Méditerranéel' Mar' Lifc' 4 (l) : vaÍa(Antltoz.oa, Cniclaria) sur Ia I'alaisedu prontontoirec!t'I\trt<tlitt(), 15- 19. Paranruri<.eaclavata le long cle la cott'^clultro' On a établiu,e ntortalitétout à fait exceptionnelletle: la llttrgont: près I0 000 vivant entre 20 r:t "J5 rtto,toire rle Portolino. Pencltttttle ntrtis cl'octobretgg3, à 1tt:tt Sorsones' ,.1ui, p,:oruqué le cleta.t'lt.ementprogressif clu coetten' nrèfres cleprofoncleur, otit subiun processusclégéneratit, ()tt près gT'í'/n encloitntagéeset,rit réduil au squelette nu' chynte des branches clesl3orgones. clesc<ilitnies .de quì'a fait,lLtinrcnter localentetttle sedi- peut su,,oser Ia relationÚe Zerre ntortalité avec une viol<'ntt'fenlpéfe au niveau tlu coenenchynten'ont;;as ttrls tljenten suspensionet dintinuerla salinité. óàiu,rotyt"s spcrit'ic.l;)es en évidence de bactéries responsablesde ces processLtstlt;génératifs. ck.ptlr.At greaterdepths tlris species is re;llacctllly INTRODUCTION l,,lranturiìt..aclavata (lìisso), the biggestMecliterra- (Weinberg,1991), wlrose population Arrthozoansare an inrportantconlponent of the ncan seiìfan lras a very slow corallig,enousbiocoenosis on Mediterraneansub- is very stable,and which Srowtll 'X, 60 nrm/year(Peirano' nrarine cliffs, reaching 95 of tlre total bionrass r.rte,ianging -19ti9; front 12.5 to 1991 Mistri et 'tl'' in sonreareas (Cili, Ros, l9tl5). Atlotrg,the gorg,o- I rrrrcsi, Weinberg, ; of this l()()2). rrinns,wltich are tl-remain represetrtatives 'l a clramaticcase of nrass biocoerrosis(Pérès, Picard, 1964), Ettnicellasingu- he presentnote rellorts of P'tr'trrt(/rr('c'ì /ari-s(Eslrer) is conrtlronly fclr'rrrclor.r lrorizont'rl or' rrrort.rlityinvolvirlg a lroprrlation the'verticalcliffs at PortoiintlFartl sub-lrorizontal bottorlrswllereas E' cavctlinii <Lrvafa livilrg on Prontotttory(Ligr'rriarr Sea)' (Koch) occurs orr tlre vertical cliffs at intermediate alorrgtlre Portofirro l5 BAVESTRELI-OC., S. BERTONE, R. CATTANEO'VIEITI, C.CERÍìANO, E. CAINO, D. ZANZI RESULTSAND DISCUSSION Scuba clivingsurvc'ys along tlre trortheasternand sorrthernsiclcs of PortoiinclFaro (Portofino Pronron- The occrtrrenceof a wirlcsltrcaclgr<l1tLt latitltt ol P. trlry)lrave m.rrlc it possilrlc'for the distrilltttirlnof P. r /.rvala.rlorrg the Portoiino cliifs was ltrcviottsly c'l,rv,tt,rto llc ntlltllerl .trtdclata to be gatltcreclfor a nrerrtionedby Tortonese(-l95U, 1961), attcl Morri c'l betlercharat:terization of ltolh its strLtctttreand lricl- .r/.,l()tJ6. Arcorcling îo Rossi(19(r5) llre b.rthyrrrt'- logy. lrr tl'risrrca, P. r'lat,,tt,tlives front 20 rlr to 50 rrt tric clistributionancl cle'nsity of this ltoltr.tl.rtiotrvary clelrth.Alorrg the nortlteasternsicle at a clepthof 20 in proportion to the level of solar rarli,rliritt.Tllc'st: nr, tl'repopr-rlatiort clensity is artlttnd 7 colrlrric's/nlr herig,lrtis 20 crtr. The n.rost clal.rare substantiaterllty olhcr observalirlt.tsott .rr.rclthe'ir nraxir.ttttt'n 'l severaloctocorallian c-otrtntut'tities(lìtlssi, | 1)(r5; extc'nsivccleve'lollnrent is foLrrrclat 30 rl with (r Weinberg, 1978). colonies/rlr .rncla nraxintLrmheight of 40 cnr. This - Figure I - M1rrlthologic.rlaspects oí lhe largr'-sr,ìl('nì()rt.rlily ;rííecting I'tr.tttturi<et ( /,rv,llJ.a spoiletlarc.ts {.rir<;ws)are scaitt'rt'rl,tr,.t,,ng iltc tltynr.t;( - SIM nti6rograirhcvirlen<ing a st'rlor ol tlrt'rontpletc-lyltart'skt-lc'lrln witlr itlst settle'rlclrilliorrlit hyi|rtli<|s;(l-SEMnlic.r<igrallhsshrrwitrg()t|tth('|(,8o|ì(,|.tlir,t.rirrl(Rr)s1lr'.lt|illgt nior1l|xl|<l13it1ttesdetantìlrt,ititcintas-slvt'r/t'[)ar.rtlltlrit i,tct'ctetigorgone;b.r.ìrì)t\lt/\|]|oI|lr,.ìn|r/t'sr/ti.qt;ltc;rr'st ,ttt 2titnts<t;1tt'.ì/r.r/,tyagc rl,ontt,utl /t. llssrrrr'.gr;ttt;t,tlil (\t lt.tittrh'rxctxrvrir lt's<1Ltt'lt\lt'tttrtrl l(r MORTALITÉMASSIVE DE PARAMURICEA,/MASSMORTALITY OF PARAMURICEA population ends at 50 m on a detritic bottonr.On tlre southernside, P. clavata is presentfrom 28 nl and reachesmaximum densityat 38 m depth with about 12 colonies/mz. rJ21 In mid-September1993 no obvioussig,ns of damag,eto ; the colonieswere observed.But during a surveyon 20th Octoberextettsive ntortality was detected,affec- ting the coloniesliving, from 20 to 38 rn deptlr.The E area affectedcovered was about 800 nrz willr an ave- ragepopulation density of 12 colonies/nr2.In particu- .l lar, from 20 Io 25 m, 00 % of the colonieswere involved.Among these,about 20 % showedclear signsof necrosis(Figure 1a) with prog,ressivedetach- (Fig,ure nrentof the livingtissue 1b),whereas in about salinity(ppt) was exposed.The expo- B0 %, only the bareskeleton ' Figure 2 - Hydrographic conditions (temperatureversus salinily) sed skeletonswere abundantlycovered by epibiontic of the surfacewater column (O-35 m depth) of a site (St.A) (9' t hydroids (Obelia, Cantpanulariaand Clytia). From 14' E, 44" l8' N), insidethe Marconi Cul( 2.7 km front the Porto- after 25 m, the percentageof affectedcolonies decreased fino Faro. lhe data, collected on 30th Septemberl99l heavy rainfall, denronstratethe presence of an upper layer (0- graduallyand below 38 m no damagewas detected. 10 rn) characterizedby low salinityand temperature.lConctitions Overall, about 10,000 specinlenswere involved irr hydrographiques (température et salinité) à la staliott A, située this rnassmortality. The pherromenonwas lintited dans le golfe Marconi a 2,7 km du phare de Portofirto. Les clon' nées recueillies Ie 30 seplentbre 1993, après une J:ériode to the PortofinoFaro area ; itr severalother investi- d'or,tg,es, montrenl Ia présence d'une couche superficielle c.trac' gated sites no degenerativesigns were observed. térisè.epar des valeurs basses de salinité et de tenttrtérature (by Scanningelectron micrograplrs confirrned that seve- courtesy of ISAM, Uníversity of Cenova). ral sectorsof the colony's branclreswere complete- ly spoiled(Figure 1c), whereas others were involved Other marine organisnrshave been involved in in a proliferativeactivity of tlre coenenchymarevea- large-scalenrortality irr both Caribbeanand Medi- led by the spreaclingof living tissueover the bare terraneanareas. Commercial spong,ebecls were skeleton(Figure 1cl). clepletedin 1938-1939by a diseasethat rapidly Mass nrortality events are well documented for spreadoutwards causingsevere reduction in the "bleaching" nradreporiancorals and ;eported as sporlgepopulations (Caltsoff, 1942).In the Mediter- phenonrena(e.g. von Prahl,1986; Pecheux,1993). riìneanbasin a more recentepidemic causedheavy [ìy contrast,few clataare availablefor seafan popu- Iossesitt sponge [rionrass(Caino, Pronzato,1992); lations,apart from tlroseconting from the Southern the spongebody was reducedto a networkof brittle Caribbean, where two species of Gorgonía were fibres contanrinatedby bacteria (Caino, Pronzato, sporadicallyinvolved in heavy mortality phenome- 19iì9). na. ln this area Corgonia ventalinarepresents the As far as tlte gorgoniansare concerned,nlany phy- sical arrd biologi<.alcauses have beer.rcitecl t<-r nrostaburrclant species. Mortality was firstobservcd -Irirri- in Novetrrberl9t]1 along the north coastof cxlllairrthese ntortalities (Cuzntatr, Cortc\s, I984), rlacl(Layrloo, 19U3). The following year other sPe- r:vcnthoul;l'r it is very clifficulttcl attribute tlreir mor' cies were affectccJ,such as Cor21<tniaflabellttnt, lalily to arrysprecific agerrt. One ltypotlreticalcausc which underwent rapid degenerationalorrg, the of these events could be related to lreavy rainfall Costa Rican coast (Cuzntan,Cortés, l984). The whiclr occurred front the second half of Septenrller nrost recent reportsconcerrl the SantaMarta arc'a, to
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