Table 1.
Reproductive mode of Pocillopora species (*inferred from histology).
Figure 1.
Sperm release by Pocillopora damicornis, One Tree Island.
Figure 2.
Spawning Pocillopora meandrina at Trimodal Reef, Lizard Island.
Table 2.
Summary of spawning observations presented in this paper.
Figure 3.
Brooded planula (Pocillopora damicornis, left) next to a spawned egg (Pocillopora meandrina, top right), indicating the size difference in Pocillopora between brooded and spawned offspring.
Figure 4.
Mitochondrial phylogeny of Pocillopora specimens based on the ORF region.
Coloured bars denote genetically distinct lineages or cryptic species identified by Schmidt-Roach et al [11]. Pocillopora eydouxi and Pocillopora meandrina shared identical mitochondrial haplotypes whilst Pocillopora verrucosa was recovered within the same clade with P. damicornis Type γ. Pocillopora damicornis Type σ and Type β were added in the phylogeny to indicate the close genetic relationship of brooding species within the genus Pocillopora. Black and white vertical bars indicate the proposed reproductive strategies of these taxa in Australia. Sample locations, indicated by three letter codes, are as follows: OTI = One Tree Island; ROT = Rottnest Island; LZI = Lizard Island. Numbers represent bootstrap values.