Quote:
Originally Posted by BonsaiNut
Agreed. And I certainly don't have any answers, I am just talking out loud.............
............Maybe spawning behavior by one species triggers defensive chemicals from another? (Now I am just hypothesizing widely)
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I am only speculating as well. Since we do not perform controlled experiments, all we can do is compile our observations and hope to eventually be able to draw some more definitive conclusions. And your hypothesis is actually correct. Corals will release defensive chemicals in response to detecting other corals' chemicals (including reproductive chemicals). This has been documented during the annual spawning event. I have read this in a scientific journal, but cannot now remember where (maybe Science?).
Dan