Burrowing hard corals occurring on the sea floor since 80 million years ago.
Burrowing hard corals occurring on the sea floor since 80 million years ago.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep24355
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发表时间：
2016-04-14
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Ezaki Y
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sentoku A;Tokuda Y;Ezaki Y
我们描述了一个以前未知的硬珊瑚生态位，在软底底物上的小的，碗状的，孤立的硬珊瑚，东方Deltocyathoids(Turbinoliidae)。观测实验被用来阐明海底生态位是如何被涡轮类利用的。Deltocyathoidesorientalis适应于一种非动物群的生活模式，表现出与自动性相关的行为，包括在沉积物中挖洞，通过沉积物垂直移动以躲避埋葬，以及在被倾覆后恢复直立位置。这些行为是通过其周围软组织的反复扩张和收缩实现的，这些软组织构成了一个独特的肌肉-膜系统。组织学分析表明，这些肌肉排列与深切开的肋间间隙有关，这是涡轮状珊瑚的特征。发现于白垩纪(坎帕尼亚)的最古老的甲鱼，也有一个小的圆锥形骨架和高度发达的肋骨。至少在8000万年前，由于通过肌肉-膜系统获得了自动性，一种非动物性的生活模式对甲鱼来说是可用的。这里描述的新发现的主动洞穴策略为珊瑚利用独立的生活模式提供了新的见解，这些珊瑚栖息在整个显生界的软底基质中。
We describe a previously unknown niche for hard corals in the small, bowl-shaped, solitary scleractinian, Deltocyathoides orientalis (Family Turbinoliidae), on soft-bottom substrates. Observational experiments were used to clarify how the sea floor niche is exploited by turbinoliids. Deltocyathoides orientalis is adapted to an infaunal mode of life and exhibits behaviours associated with automobility that include burrowing into sediments, vertical movement through sediments to escape burial, and recovery of an upright position after being overturned. These behaviours were achieved through repeated expansion and contraction of their peripheral soft tissues, which constitute a unique muscle-membrane system. Histological analysis showed that these muscle arrangements were associated with deeply incised inter-costal spaces characteristic of turbinoliid corals. The oldest known turbinoliid, Bothrophoria ornata, which occurred in the Cretaceous (Campanian), also possessed a small, conical skeleton with highly developed costae. An infaunal mode of life became available to turbinoliids due to the acquisition of automobility through the muscle-membrane system at least 80 million years ago. The newly discovered active burrowing strategies described herein provide new insights into the use of an unattached mode of life by corals inhabiting soft-bottom substrates throughout the Phanerozoic.