Data from: Biological controls to manage Acropora-eating flatworms in coral aquaculture

Abstract [Related Publication]: Coral aquaculture is expanding to supply the marine ornamental trade and active coral reef restoration. A common pest of Acropora corals is the Acropora-eating flatworm Prosthiostomum acroporae, which can cause colonial mortality at high infestation densities on Acropora spp. We investigated the potential of 2 biological control organisms in marine aquaria for the control of P. acroporae infestations. A. millepora fragments infested with adult polyclad flatworms (5 flatworms fragment(-1)) or single egg clusters laid on Acropora skeleton were cohabited with either sixline wrasse Pseudocheilinus hexataenia or the peppermint shrimp Lysmata vittata and compared to a control (i.e. no predator) to assess their ability to consume P. acroporae at different life stages over 24 h. P. hexataenia consumed 100% of adult flatworms from A. millepora fragments (n = 9; 5 flatworms fragment(-1)), while L. vittata consumed 82.0 +/- 26.36% of adult flatworms (mean +/- SD; n= 20). Pseudocheilinus hexataenia did not consume any Prosthiostomum acroporae egg capsules, while L. vittata consumed 63.67 +/- 43.48% (n = 20) of egg capsules on the Acropora skeletons. Mean handling losses in controls were 5.83% (shrimp system) and 3.50% (fish system) of flatworms and 2.39% (fish system) and 3.50% (shrimp system) of egg capsules. Encounters between L. vittata and P. hexataenia result in predation of P. acroporae on an Acropora coral host and represent viable biological controls for reducing infestations of P. acroporae in aquaculture systems.

This dataset consists of a spreadsheet in comma-separated values (.csv) format. Consumption and standard deviation are expressed as percentages.

The full methodology is available in the Open Access publication from the Related Publications link below.

    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Data from: Biological controls to manage Acropora-eating flatworms in coral aquaculture
    Data Publication title Data from: Biological controls to manage Acropora-eating flatworms in coral aquaculture
  • Description

    Abstract [Related Publication]: Coral aquaculture is expanding to supply the marine ornamental trade and active coral reef restoration. A common pest of Acropora corals is the Acropora-eating flatworm Prosthiostomum acroporae, which can cause colonial mortality at high infestation densities on Acropora spp. We investigated the potential of 2 biological control organisms in marine aquaria for the control of P. acroporae infestations. A. millepora fragments infested with adult polyclad flatworms (5 flatworms fragment(-1)) or single egg clusters laid on Acropora skeleton were cohabited with either sixline wrasse Pseudocheilinus hexataenia or the peppermint shrimp Lysmata vittata and compared to a control (i.e. no predator) to assess their ability to consume P. acroporae at different life stages over 24 h. P. hexataenia consumed 100% of adult flatworms from A. millepora fragments (n = 9; 5 flatworms fragment(-1)), while L. vittata consumed 82.0 +/- 26.36% of adult flatworms (mean +/- SD; n= 20). Pseudocheilinus hexataenia did not consume any Prosthiostomum acroporae egg capsules, while L. vittata consumed 63.67 +/- 43.48% (n = 20) of egg capsules on the Acropora skeletons. Mean handling losses in controls were 5.83% (shrimp system) and 3.50% (fish system) of flatworms and 2.39% (fish system) and 3.50% (shrimp system) of egg capsules. Encounters between L. vittata and P. hexataenia result in predation of P. acroporae on an Acropora coral host and represent viable biological controls for reducing infestations of P. acroporae in aquaculture systems.

    This dataset consists of a spreadsheet in comma-separated values (.csv) format. Consumption and standard deviation are expressed as percentages.

    The full methodology is available in the Open Access publication from the Related Publications link below.

  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor
    • Descriptor type
  • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • Acropora-eating flatworm
    • Lysmata vittata
    • Pseudocheilinus hexataenia
    • biological control
    • coral aquaculture
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    • -
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    Tropical Health, Medicine and Biosecurity
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    Type Location Notes
    Attachment biocontrol_R.csv
    The Data Manager is: Jonathan Barton
    College or Centre
    Access conditions Open: free access under license
  • Alternative access conditions
  • Data record size 1 file: 356 B
  • Related publications
      Name Barton, Jonathan A., Humphrey, Craig, Bourne, David G., and Hutson, Kate S. (2020) Biological controls to manage Acropora-eating flatworms in coral aquaculture. Aquaculture Environment Interactions, 12. pp. 61-66.
    • URL https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00347
    • Notes Open Access
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    Citation Barton, Jonathan (2020): Data from: Biological controls to manage Acropora-eating flatworms in coral aquaculture. James Cook University. https://doi.org/10.25903/5ecf15760a0ba