Dataset: Lipid content describing the behavior of coral larvae in high pCO2 within shallow tropical reefs in Okinawa, Japan from 2016-07 to 2016-08

Twelve colonies of Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus 1758) were collected in July and August 2016 from ~ 1-m depth on a patch reef on the northwest shore of Okinawa (26°40’18.24” N, 127°53’4.78” E). Colonies were collected prior to expected larval release in Okinawa in July and August (S. Harii, unpublished data on the study site), with peak release occurring ~ 7 days after the new moon.

Following collection, colonies were transferred to Sesoko Station, part of the Tropical Biosphere Research Center University of the Ryukyus, where they were incubated outdoors in individual containers exposed to natural irradiance in flow-through seawater. Ambient seawater was pumped at 3.0 L min-1 (AC Flowmeter, Tokyo Keiso Co., Japan) from 4–5 m depth and stored in two 10 L reservoirs. Air was bubbled constantly in to the reservoirs at 3.0 L min-1 to maintain ambient seawater pCO2 (i.e., the control conditions). Seawater temperature was measured hourly at 1–2-m depth near the collection site prior to, and during, the experiment (HOBO Pro v2, Onset Computer Corporation, USA), and was 29.9 ± 0.2°C (mean ± SE, n = 45 days), with a daily minimum of 28.3°C and daily maximum of 31.8°C (R. Prasetia & S. Harii, unpublished data) that reflects summertime diurnal warming in this location. Temperature in the containers holding the corals was maintained within this range during the experiment (29.8 ± < 0.2°C, mean ± SE, n = 31) using a chiller (ZR-130E, Zensui, Japan).

Planulae released from P. damicornis during the first quarter moon of July and August were collected at ~ 05:00 hrs following their release at ~ 03:00 hrs, using containers lined with 110 µm plankton mesh. As larvae from P. damicornis are physiologically dissimilar among days of release, larvae were collected from the inferred day of peak release and pooled among colonies releasing larvae on this day. Larvae from July and August were used to test the effects of pCO2 (two levels) and depths (two levels) on larval behavior, and the experiment was conducted in two parts. The first part (July 2016) tested the effects of two pCO2 regimes on larval behavior with the tubes positioned with their upper opening adjacent to the air-water interface of the seawater (hereafter “shallow” tubes), and the second part (August 2016) tested the effects of the same two pCO2 regimes on larval behavior with the tubes positioned with their upper opening ~3–4 m below the surface (hereafter “deep” tubes).