Variability of the pore apparatus of milleporine hydroids of Vietnam

Abstract

The results of an analysis of the growth, intracolonial, intercolonial, and ecotypical variabilities of pore apparatus of Vietnamese millepores are presented. The species and morphs of millepores are shown to differ in the range of variability, in the ratio between the contributions of different types of variability in the total variance of features, in the number and composition of the groups of distinguishing features for different types of variability and in response patterns to the same environmental factors. At the same time, branched millepores resemble each other more than M. platyphylla (plate colonies) for all these features. Moreover, they form a row of transitive forms, which possess not only an intermediate morphological structure, but also an intermediate range and pattern of variability. It is believed that these facts confirm the author's conclusion that all branched millepores of the Indo-Pacific are conspecific. The species and morphs of millepores differ not only on morphological and biochemical levels, as shown previously, but also on a physiological level, in the metabolic rates or trophic specialization, and also in the colonial organization and in the degree of morphological entirely of colonies.