Abstract
The term corallivorous gastropod refers to a group of snails that feeds on coral and inhabits coral communities worldwide. Outbreaks of these species cause serious damage to coral communities. There are various reasons behind the outbreaks; however, further clarifications are needed. It may be possible to predict outbreaks by measuring the number of floating larvae of corallivorous gastropods in seawater. Drupella fragum is the most damaging species in Japan, so we produced antibodies against D. fragum larvae in order to easily detect this species in the field. Antibody specificity analysis in aquarium-hatched corallivorous gastropods showed a higher specificity against D. fragum compared to D. cornus. A field study using the antibody showed that many D. fragum larvae were detected from June to November at all stations. The larvae at the Shirigai station were collected in June and July in large numbers compared to the other stations. Large groups of D. fragum were collected around the sampling point in Shirigai in September 2016. Our results imply that there is a possibility that outbreaks could be predicted using this antibody.
Highlights
The Ashizuri-Uwakai coast in Southwest Shikoku is a rugged rias coastline
We focused on D. fragum, which damages corals and has had many outbreaks in Japan
It was proven that the antibody diluted to 1/10,000 has high specificity against D. fragum larvae
Summary
The Ashizuri-Uwakai coast in Southwest Shikoku is a rugged rias coastline It is affected by the Kuroshio current, a warm current that enables coral communities with many diverse organisms to develop in this area. This area is popular for fishing and leisure activities such as scuba diving; the corals are important for supporting biodiversity and local resources. There are many kinds of creatures that eat corals, such as corallivorous gastropods and crown-of-thorns starfish [1]. Both species have been the target of extermination activities in various regions. The gastropods usually form groups on the coral consisting of 1-10 individuals and are known to contribute to the species diversity of the coral by eating fast-growing corals such as Acroporidae [6,7]
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