OMG, I think they just spawned on me!
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| High hopes for tonight! |
Friday night....our BURR team and volunteers headed out for the 4th night out on the reef....high hopes for spawning tonight from everyone!
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| File fish checking out our tents |
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| Rachel swimmin with the fishes |
Rachel left KML and the team of coral spawning volunteers and had to
head back to beautiful Buffalo.....disappointed that she didn't get to
be there for the ultimate event....coral spawning!
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| Shelby, about to dive in to check the colonies for spawning |
On this night when we jumped into the water early to check
for setting and we were relieved to see that it was actually happening! In
preparation for a synchronized release of their egg-sperm bundles, coral polyps
will move these pinkish balls into their mouth causing the polyps to swell and the
egg-sperm bundles to be visible in the polyp mouth. Setting gives us about a
15-20 minute window to get our dive and snorkel teams into the water and to get
ready to collect before the spawning begins. An amazing phenomenon is that the
rest of the organisms on the reef seem to know what is coming and come out of
their usual hiding place. When the spawning begins, these organisms take
advantage of the extra food in the water as well and we can actually feel them
on our hands, face and any exposed skin. We saw brittle stars, mysid shrimps and
many fish active on the reef that night. We waited patiently with the rest of
the reef community until, almost all at once, around 11:15 p.m., all of the Montastrea faveolata colonies released
these bundles into the water where they slowly float to the surface (or into
our collecting jars).
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| Mac taking care of the larvae on the boat |
At the surface the bundles from each of the colonies
break up and mix together for fertilization and a new generation of corals. The
bundles that we collect are passed from divers to snorkelers who shuttle the
jars to the boat for mixing and fertilization on board.
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| Bishoy collecting egg sperm bundles for his project |
As soon as the spawning
slows to a stop, we collect our supplies from the reef and get our newly
fertilized eggs back to the lab as quickly as possible.
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| Mac teaching coral larvae survival! |
The first 48 hours of
their lives are critical and they require 24 hour observation, water changes
and mixing.
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| Caring for the coral spawn late into the night.... |
We are in for a long but fruitful evening!
Welcome to the world, coral babies!
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| Coral spawn care is a 24 hour job! |
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