Eusmilia spawning

Alex Mustard atmu at soc.soton.ac.uk
Mon Oct 29 03:03:48 EST 2001


Hi Greg/coral list,

At the following URL there is a picture I took in Antigua in 
September 1993, which may be of interest (I would need to check Dive 
log for the date, but Montastrea sp. was also spawning on that night, 
and from memory it was either 6 or 7 nights post FM):
http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/GDD/hydro/atmu/ecology/chapter5/Acoral3.jpg

This picture may be consistent with your speculation that the gametes 
were trapped/accumulated in the tentacles prior to release through 
the mouth.

I would be interested to hear how you and other educated eyes 
interpret this image.

Regards

Alex


>One would speculate that the eggs might be
>released through the end of the tentacles, but this seems very odd.  They
>are getting out from somewhere as there are many gametes visible in the
>surrounding water.  Could be the gametes in the tentacles are trapped and
>should have been retained in the gastrovascular cavity for release through
>the mouth as other taxa do.
>
>Greg Boland
>
>You can use the URL below to view the images:
>http://www.coral.noaa.gov/coral_list/eusmilia.html
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