High post-settlement mortality is thought to be a major limiting factor for the recovery of disturbed coral reef populations, as newly settled corals face a range of physical, chemical, and biological interactions that can inhibit their development. During recruitment, physical interactions are common, with recruits settling on loose substrates likely to be abraded during storm events, while incidental grazing and predation on exposed surfaces may also inflict damage. Nevertheless, larvae have been observed to recruit and survive on substrates where physical damage is likely, possibly owing to their regenerative capacity. Here, we present the first visual time-series evidence of recruit regeneration following physical damage. To investigate regeneration of these recruits, we sliced and removed tissue from individual Acropora millepora coral recruits and tracked their recovery through survivorship and linear growth. Coral recruits were very robust to slicing, even if the mouth-stomodeum was damaged, which does not support the previously held view that damage to this area is terminal. While section removal did show some evidence of damage at later stages, recruits were more robust to damage than expected which may assist their survival in dynamic habitats.

定居后高死亡率被认为是受干扰珊瑚礁种群恢复的主要限制因素，因为新定居的珊瑚面临一系列可能抑制其发育的物理、化学和生物相互作用。在招募期间，身体互动很常见，新兵定居在松散的基质上，在风暴事件中可能会被磨损，而在暴露的表面上偶然放牧和捕食也可能造成损害。尽管如此，已经观察到幼虫在可能受到物理损害的基质上募集并存活，这可能是由于它们的再生能力。在这里，我们展示了物理损伤后新兵再生的第一个视觉时间序列证据。为了研究这些新兵的再生，我们从个体中切片并取出组织Acropora millepora珊瑚招募并通过存活和线性生长追踪它们的恢复。珊瑚新兵对切片非常健壮，即使口-口被损坏，这不支持先前持有的对该区域的损坏是终末的观点。虽然部分移除确实在后期阶段显示出一些损坏的证据，但新兵对损坏的抵抗力比预期的要强，这可能有助于他们在动态栖息地中生存。