The first time I witnessed coral spawning was in 2007, just off the coastline of Puerto Rico on the healthiest patch of elkhorn coral I have ever seen. It is now 2020, almost exactly 13 years from that first coral spawning trip with SECORE International, and the level of excitement and anxiety leading up to […]
Scientists at the Nova Southeastern University Marine Larval Ecology & Recruitment Lab have successfully induced colonies of Montastrea cavernosa (great star coral), a major reef-building species in Florida, to reproduce in captivity for the first time ever. The corals have been held in indoor aquariums for the last year, where Dr. Joana Figueiredo and her lab were […]
Coral spawning is perhaps the most spectacular natural event I have ever witnessed. During only a few nights each summer, many of Florida’s important reef-building corals reproduce simultaneously through “mass spawning.” Using cues from the environment such as lunar cycle, water temperature, and day length, sexually mature colonies release their gametes (eggs and sperm) into […]
Staghorn corals grown in a nursery and replanted at a reef restoration site off Key Biscayne have spawned for the first time, signaling hope that fragmenting corals and outplanting them to reefs is a viable approach to help rebuild Florida’s valuable marine ecosystems.
For the first time in Florida or Caribbean waters, restored massive corals were observed spawning—part of sexual reproduction that could result in the next generation of coral offspring—thanks to Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium’s innovative efforts to restore Florida’s Coral Reef. Over the past few nights, Mote coral scientists observed restored colonies of mountainous star […]
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