"At precisely 9:47 one night last week, corals shaped like Greek columns began spawning in shallow water off North Key Largo in a place known as Pillar Coral Forest.
The cloud of milky sperm was in clear view under a nearly full moon. Six minutes later, the girl pillar corals did their part for reproduction of the threatened species, releasing little white eggs that looked stringy when clumped together.
The three state research scientists who witnessed the event while scuba diving last Saturday night would have cheered had they not had regulators in their mouths.
"We were so excited to see the girls," said Kate Lunz, research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We were kind of wondering if there were any girls here. But they all sort of mixed together with multiple coral colonies going off -- sometimes twice."
It was the first documented case of male and female pillar corals spawning together in Florida waters, according to the FWC.
That's good news for the state-listed threatened species -- extremely rare along the Florida reef tract, which runs from Palm Beach County to the Dry Tortugas that are 70 miles west of Key West.
"Colonies that are healthy enough to invest energy to produce eggs and sperm have the potential to reproduce," Lunz said. "Sometimes corals are stressed and cannot sexually reproduce at all."
The hope is that the eggs and sperm fuse in the water column and become larvae, and eventually settle as new corals."
Above Photo Caption: Research scientist Kate Lund was one of three divers to see threatened pillar corals spawn in the Upper Keys. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conser / Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
Male and female pillar coral spawn for first documented time in Keys
Reply With Quote
