
Sex change occurs when an individual changes from one functional sex to another. The direction of sex change occurs mainly from male to female (protandry) or vice versa (protogyny), but sometimes may be bidirectional (repetitive). Here, for the first time in stony corals, we report on a protandrous sex change exhibited by two mushroom corals,Fungia repandaandCtenactis echinata, with the latter also exhibiting bidirectional sex change. Compared withC. echinata,F. repandaexhibited relatively earlier sex change, significantly slower growth and higher mortality rates, in accordance with sex-allocation theory. Sex ratio in both the species was biased towards the first sex. The bidirectional sex change displayed byC. echinatagreatly resembles that of dioecious plants that display labile sexuality in response to energetic and/or environmental constraints. We posit that, similar to these plants, in the studied corals, sex change increases their overall fitness, reinforcing the important role of reproductive plasticity in scleractinian corals in determining their evolutionary success.
Male, Reproduction, Sex Determination Processes, Anthozoa, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Animals, Female, Hermaphroditic Organisms, Sex Ratio
Male, Reproduction, Sex Determination Processes, Anthozoa, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Animals, Female, Hermaphroditic Organisms, Sex Ratio
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