The Indian Ocean Dipole and El Niño Southern Oscillation as major drivers of coral cover on shallow reefs in the Andaman Sea.

Shallow reefs are a major feature of coral assemblages in the Andaman Sea. At Phuket, Thailand sheltered reefs are dominated by massive corals, together with an increasing abundance of branching species during favourable growth conditions. The growth of coral on these reefs is moderated by long-term increases in sea temperature and relative sea level but fluctuating decadal/intradecadal climate processes of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which modulate sea level and temperature, are the main drivers of coral cover.

Selective consumption of sacoglossan sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) by scleractinian corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa).

Recent studies revealed that reef corals can eat large-sized pelagic and benthic animals in addition to small planktonic prey. As follow-up, we document natural ingestion of sea slugs by corals and investigate the role of sacoglossan sea slugs as possible prey items of scleractinian corals. Feeding trials were carried out using six sacoglossan species as prey, two each from the genera Costasiella, Elysia and Plakobranchus, and four free-living solitary corals (Danafungia scruposa, Fungia fungites, Pleuractis paumotensis and Heteropsammia cochlea) as predators.