Sexual Reproduction and Seasonality of the Alaskan Red Tree Coral, Primnoa pacifica

The red tree coral Primnoa pacifica is an important habitat forming octocoral in North Pacific waters. Given the prominence of this species in shelf and upper slope areas of the Gulf of Alaska where fishing disturbance can be high, it may be able to sustain healthy populations through adaptive reproductive processes. This study was designed to test this hypothesis, examining reproductive mode, seasonality and fecundity in both undamaged and simulated damaged colonies over the course of 16 months using a deepwater-emerged population in Tracy Arm Fjord. Females within the population developed asynchronously, though males showed trends of synchronicity, with production of immature spermatocysts heightened in December/January and maturation of gametes in the fall months. Periodicity of individuals varied from a single year reproductive event to some individuals taking more than the 16 months sampled to produce viable gametes. Multiple stages of gametes occurred in polyps of the same colony during most sampling periods. Mean oocyte size ranged from 50 to 200 µm in any season, and maximum oocyte size (802 µm) suggests a lecithotrophic larva. No brooding larvae were found during this study, though unfertilized oocytes were found adhered to the outside of polyps, where they are presumably fertilized. This species demonstrated size-dependent reproduction, with gametes first forming in colonies over 42-cm length, and steady oocyte sizes being achieved after reaching 80-cm in length. The average fecundity was 86 (±12) total oocytes per polyp, and 17 (±12) potential per polyp fecundity. Sub-lethal injury by removing 21–40% of colony tissue had no significant reproductive response in males or females over the course of this study, except for a corresponding loss in overall colony fecundity. The reproductive patterns and long gamete generation times observed in this study indicate that recruitment events are likely to be highly sporadic in this species increasing its vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances.