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Living in a growing host: growth pattern and dwelling formation of the scallop Pedum spondyloideum in massive Porites spp. corals

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Abstract

Pedum spondyloideum is a byssally attached scallop in the Indo-Pacific that lives in deep fan-shaped dwellings within live scleractinian and hydrozoan corals, with the ventral edges of the scallops’ valves protruding slightly from the dwellings. Juvenile scallops have rounded, oval shells and live in shallow depressions. Complete scallop dwellings are formed by the growth of the host and allometric growth of the scallop, and by chemical and physical interactions between the scallop and its host. Scallops were extracted intact from their dwellings within massive corals in the genus Porites in Thailand (7°36′32″ N, 98°21′55″ E; in May 2019) and Malaysia (2°45′17″ N, 104°13′30″ E; in November 2019) to examine the relationship between shell height (SH) and shell width (SW). The slope of the regression of SH on SW within the first 2 years of settlement was 0.79–0.9, indicating that SW increased slightly faster than SH during this period. As the scallop grew further, the slope of the SH on SW was 1.29–1.54, indicating that SH increased faster than SW. A histological study on scallop pallial tissue, including the tentacles, and SEM observations of the dwelling walls suggested that the scallop has secretions that damage coral tissue and widen the dwelling during growth. Thus, the distinctive fan-shaped dwellings of the adult scallops are caused by a combination of allometric scallop growth and erosion of the host tissue and dwelling walls.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang Research Fund (Academic Melting Pot Programme Grant no. KREF206216) and Senior Investigator Award, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (AS-IA-105-L03). The authors would like to acknowledge the research collection permit from the Research Promotion and Co-ordination Committee, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) of the Malaysian Government UPE/40/200/19/3463(20). Thanks to Wei-Peng Hsieh (Academia Sinica) for assisting with histological sectioning and Noah Last of the Third Draft Editing Company for his English editing. Thanks also to two reviewers for providing constructive comments to further improve the quality of our work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 section 2, Academia Road, Nangang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Benny K. K. Chan

  2. Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

    James C. H. Tan

  3. Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

    James C. H. Tan

  4. Faculty of Agricultural Technology, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Chalongkrung Road, Ladkrabang, Bangkok, 10520, Thailand

    Monthon Ganmanee

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  1. Benny K. K. Chan
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Contributions

BKKC, JCHT, MG initiated the study, conducted the sampling and data analysis and wrote the MS.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Monthon Ganmanee.

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Ethical approval

All sampling in Thailand was outside marine protected areas and no permit was required. Sampling in Malaysia was conducted under a research collection permit from the Research Promotion and Coordination Committee, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) (UPE/40/200/19/3463(20)) and Department of Fisheries Malaysia (Prk.ML.630-7 (41)) of the Malaysia Government.

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Fig. S1

Parameters measured for multivariate and regression analysis in adult and juvenile shells (TIF 17825 kb)

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Chan, B.K.K., Tan, J.C.H. & Ganmanee, M. Living in a growing host: growth pattern and dwelling formation of the scallop Pedum spondyloideum in massive Porites spp. corals. Mar Biol 167, 95 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03716-8

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