Little coral spawning after full moon in July
This time of the year, both species are expected to spawn within one to two weeks after full moon, which is why many coral reproduction scientists have been monitoring spawning throughout the Caribbean. While the staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis was observed spawning in Little Cayman and the Dominican Republic at the beginning of August, the elkhorn coral Acropora palmata kept scientists waiting in most locations.
Saturday night (August 4), eight days after full moon, the Curaçao team that consisted of divers from SECORE, CARMABI, Shedd Aquarium, Virginia Aquarium, Curaçao Sea Aquarium, Pennsylvania State University, Florida International University and Smithsonian Institute finally reported at least some success.
Four out of 50 elkhorn colonies on the Curaçao Sea Aquarium reef spawned and the divers were able to collect sperm-egg bundles from two large colonies. Two smaller colonies released a few sperm-egg bundles, including one of the 7-year-old elkhorn coral colonies outplanted by SECORE in 2011. "Collecting spawn was a little more challenging than usual because there was a ripping current at the Sea Aquarium reef, and a ton of stingy ctenophores and a few box jellyfish", says SECORE Restoration Technician Kelly Latijnhouwers.
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Photos: In the eighth night after full moon the divers collected egg-and-sperm bundles from four out of 50 elkhorn coral colonies, using special collection nets. (Evan Culbertson and Keoki Burton)
Hoping for a larger spawning event, the team went out the following night. Unfortunately, their expectations were not fulfilled as not a single colony was observed spawning. "We are expecting a large Acropora spawning event following the August full moon. The fact that only a few colonies spawned is not surprising given that the full moon coincided with low sea surface temperature on Curaçao", says Valérie Chamberland. In the meantime, the team is running a few experiments with the few thousand larvae that were collected last week. Tuesday last week, the team also started diving to collect spawn from the grooved brain coral Diploria labyrinthiformis.
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Photo: Our spawning team on Curaçao consisted of divers from SECORE, CARMABI, Shedd Aquarium, Virginia Aquarium, Curaçao Sea Aquarium, Pennsylvania State, Florida International University and Smithsonian Institution (Evan Culbertson)
On Curaçao SECORE is doing coral research and restoration in close collaboration with CARMABI MarineResearch Station and the Curaçao Sea Aquarium. Our joint work is part of the Global Coral Restoration Project, initiated by SECORE International, the California Academy of Sciences and The Nature Conservancy. Other partners are: The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Discovery Place, the Virginia Aquarium, TUI Cruises, the Clyde and Connie Woodburn Foundation, the Green Foundation, and the Montei Foundation.
