caa a22 4500 445819472 CHVBK 20180317145239.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00338-011-0760-4 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00338-011-0760-4 Robustness of size measurement in soft corals [Elektronische Daten] [M. Hellström, J. Benzie] Accurate colony size measurement in soft-bodied sessile aquatic invertebrates is more difficult than in hard corals because of the variable state of the hydroskeleton in the former. The present study examined variation in colony height, oral disc diameter and basal circumference in three species of soft coral of different morphological types (Sarcophyton elegans, Sinularia flexibilis and Dendronephthya sp.) over a 24-h period. Individual colonies changed considerably in size over this period. Coefficients of variation for height measurements and oral disc were 0.09-0.36 and 0.08-0.28, respectively, but were only 0.02-0.09 for basal circumference, in all three species. Measurements of basal circumference in the field showed the highest correlation with colony biomass (volume after water displacement in formalin) confirming basal circumference to be a sound measure of colony size in repeated measurement studies. Springer-Verlag, 2011 Soft coral nationallicence Soft-bodied sessile invertebrate nationallicence Morphology nationallicence Size variation nationallicence Hellström M. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Cape Ferguson PMB 3, 4810, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Benzie J. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Cape Ferguson PMB 3, 4810, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/3(2011-09-01), 787-790 0722-4028 30:3<787 2011 30 338 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0760-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 brief-communication jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0760-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hellström M. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Cape Ferguson PMB 3, 4810, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Benzie J. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Cape Ferguson PMB 3, 4810, Townsville, QLD, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/3(2011-09-01), 787-790 0722-4028 30:3<787 2011 30 338 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer