Effects of ocean acidification on larval swimming behaviour of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum pertusum

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on the survival, development and swimming behaviour of embryos of the deep-sea coral Desmophyllum pertusum (syn. Lophelia pertusa). Upon spawning, fertilized embryos were collected and exposed to two pCO2 treatments corresponding to present pCO2 conditions (400 ppm) and future pCO2 conditions predicted under scenario IPCC RCP8.5 for the end of the century (1000 ppm). We monitored survival daily and we measured swimming velocity on day 9 after spawning. Temperature and pH were measured every 24h, salinity was measured every other day, and water samples were collected during the first and last day of the experiment to determine total alkalinity (TA). This dataset includes data on the effects of ocean acidification on swimming velocity of larvae of the deep-sea coral Desmophyllum pertusum. Embryos were exposed to two acidification (pCO2) treatments: present pCO2 conditions (400 ppm) and future pCO2 conditions predicted under RCP8.5 for the end of the century (1000 ppm). After rearing the embryos in the respective treatments for nine days, we recorded the swimming behaviour of larvae with a video camera. Videos were analyzed with manual particle tracking, and here we report the swimming velocity and total traveled distance of larvae in each experimental treatment.