Abstract
Tropical corals cultured in or ex situ, are being increasingly shipped worldwide to supply wholesale aquarium companies and research institutions. Scleractinian corals are mostly traded for ornamental purposes, whereby octocorals are increasingly traded for biotechnological applications. During the shipping process corals can be affected by several stressors that in extreme cases can result in coral death. It is, therefore, important to understand the physiological effects of shipping on different coral species. For this, two octocoral species with biotechnological potential, Sinularia polydactyla and Sinularia asterolobata, were shipped from Indonesia to our research facilities in Europe, Portugal. Oxidative stress (catalase – CAT, glutathione S-transferase - GST, and total glutathione - tGSH), oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation - LPO), energy reserves (lipids, proteins, carbohydrates) and electron transport system (ETS) were measured at arrival and after three months of husbandry to evaluate stress and cellular damage after a common shipping practice. The CAT depletion, together with higher activity of the second line of oxidative defence (GST and tGSH) and energy consumption (measured as ETS activity), for S. polydactyla immediately after shipping, evidenced the detoxification effort to avoid cellular damage. However, colonies of this species did not recover from shipping and perished 24 h after arrival. S. asterolobata activated the antioxidative pathways (CAT, GST and tGSH) to control damage right after shipping. Nonetheless, after three months, levels of LPO were significantly higher. Post-stress regeneration and long-term acclimation to captivity conditions, are suggested explanations for these peroxidation values. This study highlights differences in species susceptibility to shipping stress and evidence the need to consider species-specific requirements to a successful shipping and reduce the loss of valuable biomass.
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