Larsson, Ann I; Havsblad, Charlie; Rundberg, Tove (2024): Effect of suspended sediment exposure on larval survival and swimming speed of the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.966516

This data publication together with two related publications contains data from a number of experiments aiming to assess the effect of suspended sediment exposure on fertilization, embryonic and larval development as well as larval swimming in Lophelia pertusa (syn. Desmophyllum pertusum). Parental colonies for subsequent spawning in the laboratory were collected in 2021 and 2022 at the Tisler reef (Lat 58.99, Lon 10.97) 1-2 months before the spawning season of L. pertusa in the Skagerrak (February). Males and females were placed together in laboratory tanks at Tjärnö Marine Laboratory, University of Gothenburg and maintained in flow-through of seawater with a salinity around 33 psu and a temperature of 8 °C. Corals were fed 2–3 times a week with frozen zooplankton. About a week before the start of experiments, benthic sediment was collected from around 130 m water depth in bottom trawled seafloor areas of the Koster Fjord, some 10 km south of the Tisler reef, and was sieved to 63 µm before storage at 2 °C. During the spawning season corals were continuously observed and when both sexes spawned simultaneously gametes were collected. Gamete mixtures were either close to directly treated with sediments or embryo and larvae were maintained at 8 °C for a period of time before the sediment treatment began. For sediment treatments, larvae were moved to 3-5 replicate flasks (75 ml culture flasks) with 0, 2.5, 5.0 and 25 mg dry weight of sediment per liter seawater and placed on a plankton wheel in a thermo-regulated room at 8 °C. Exposure times of 1, 2 and 3 days were used. In this particular dataset, larvae of various ages were exposed to sediments and their survival, plus in a few cases swimming speed, after treatment was assessed.