[Coral-List] coral spawning in Brazil

[rhoda1]

Dear Coral Listers,
 
The CORAL VIVO project is proud to announce that Brazilian coral researchers have just observed in laboratory the spawning of an endemic coral species, the Mussismilia harttii. This is the second consecutive year that we observe the spawning of this species. The CORAL VIVO project is the first attempt to develop rehabilitation methods for degraded reefs in Brazil through sexual reproduction. Our team succeeded with in vitro fertilization and we are rearing coral larvae and recruits for reef replenishment. We have been performing several tests to improve our methodology for reef rehabilitation. We believe that soon we will be able to start coral reef rehab in Brazil.
As seen in 2004, corals spawned simultaneously in Tamandaré (circa 09 degrees South), Porto Seguro (circa 16 degrees South), and Abrolhos (circa 18 degrees South). Spawning lasted 4-5 days (30/Sep – 04/Oct), but a relatively small number of bundles were expelled. The phenomenon usually started near 06:30h p.m. and lasted nearly one hour. An examination of colonies that spawned showed that they still harbor mature gonads. Therefore, the team will continue to monitor the species waiting for a second spawning event. This second event was foreseen through histological analysis by Pires et al. (1999 – Marine Biology 135: 463-471).
Best regards,
 
CORAL VIVO team
http://acd.ufrj.br/~prjcoralvivo