Affiliation: | 1.Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences,University of New Hampshire,Durham,USA;2.National Center for Natural Products Research,University of Mississippi,University,USA;3.School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering,University of New Hampshire,Durham,USA;4.US Department of Energy,Joint Genome Institute,Walnut Creek,USA |
Abstract: | Predation on corals by visual predators is a significant source of partial or total mortality on coral reefs, and corals have evolved strategies, including chemical defenses, to deter predation. One mechanism that organisms use to communicate the presence of chemical defenses is aposematic coloration, or the display of bright coloration as a warning to visual predators such as fish. Corals exhibit multiple colors, and it has been hypothesized that one role for this variability in coloration is as an aposematic warning of adverse palatability. Here, we test green and orange color morphs of the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa for the presence of chemical defenses and whether their differences in coloration elicited different feeding responses. While M. cavernosa is chemically defended, there is no difference in feeding deterrence between color morphs; thus, the different color morphs of this coral species do not appear to represent an example of aposematic coloration. |