301 Moved

When it comes time to migrate, new research has found how a free-living coral ignores the classic advice and goes straight towards the light. The research -- led by Dr Brett Lewis from the QUT School of Atmospheric and Earth Sciences and Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, and published in PLOS One -- investigated how the free-living mushroom coral Cycloseris cyclolites moves, navigates and responds to light in its natural environments.

"Not all corals are attached to the substrate; some are solitary and free-living, allowing them to migrate into preferred habitats," Dr Lewis said. "However, the lifestyle of these mobile corals, including how they move and navigate for migration, remains largely obscure." Cycloseris cyclolites is an adorably small free-living species of mushroom coral capable of migrating to different reef habitats, often driven by the search for optimal light conditions. Using high-resolution time-lapse imaging, the team identified that Cycloseris cyclolites was able to move via a mechanism known as pulsed inflation, a process where the coral inflates and deflates its tissue in rhythmic bursts to propel itself forward, like the movement seen in jellyfish.

Providing new insights into coral mobility mechanisms, the findings show just how closely related these corals are to jellyfish mechanisms which have been previously researched as a key point in the evolution of the centralised nervous system humans possess today.