Chemical aspects of mass spawning in corals. II. (-)-Epi-thunbergol, the sperm attractant in the eggs of the soft coralLobophytum crassum(Cnidaria: Octocorallia)

✍ Scribed by J. C. Coll; P. A. Leone; B. F. Bowden; A. R. Carroll; G. M. König; A. Heaton; R. Nys; M. Maida; P. M. Aliño; R. H. Willis; R. C. Babcock; Z. Florian; M. N. Clayton; R. L. Miller; P. N. Alderslade

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 744 KB
• Volume: 123
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00350332

✦ Synopsis

The eggs of Lobophytum crassum Von Marenzeller, 1886, collected at Magnetic Island (19~ 146~ in October or November between 1983 and 1993, contained significant amounts (6% dry weight) of (-)-epi-thunbergol, in addition to other terpenoid metabolites also present in the parent colony.

(-)-Epi-thunbergol was not present in the tissues of the releasing colony. Using fluorocarbon droplets impregnated with the chemotactic molecules and a videomicroscopic technique for the direct observation of sperm under the influence of attractant molecules, we showed that (-)-epi-thunbergol, whether isolated from L. crassum or from a gorgonian octocoral (Briareum sp.), significantly attracts sperm from L. crassum colonies. Attraction could be detected using direct observa-Communicated by G.F. Humphrey, Sydney