Southwestern Atlantic reef-building corals Mussismilia spp. are able to spawn while fully bleached

Abstract

Bleaching events are becoming more frequent and intense worldwide. Southwestern Atlantic corals are considered stress-tolerant species that suffer less during bleaching episodes. Therefore, we investigated if the reef-building corals Mussismilia hispida and M. harttii are capable of spawning while fully bleached. We compared spermatozoa concentration and motility, egg diameter and embryo viability between seemingly healthy and bleached colonies for both species. Findings show that both species spawned viable gametes. Concentration and motility of newly-released spermatozoa were similar between healthy and bleached colonies for both species. Unlike M. hispida, a 10% reduction in size was found in egg diameter for M. harttii. Embryo viability for bleached M. hispida colonies did not decrease; for bleached M. harttii there was a reduction from 14.7 to 6.3%, but fertilization and larval development still took place. These findings describe the unprecedented episode of corals spawning viable gametes when entirely bleached, supporting the suggestion of greater resilience for Southwestern Atlantic corals.