[Coral-List] No Acroporid spawning in PR

Hernandez Edwin coral_giac at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 10 21:53:22 EDT 2009


Dear listers.

Hola! Here is a summary report of what was documented by two separate diving teams of our Coral Reef Research Group.

After three days of observations in Bahia Tamarindo, Culebra Island, eastern PR, (Friday 7 to Sunday 9 evenings; about 2-3 hr/night), no spawning was documented in Acropora cervicornis or A. palmata. Only a few sporadic egg bundles were observed during the 4th evening after full moon (Sunday 9) coming with the tidal current around 8:45-9:30 pm. None of the monitored colonies, either cultured corals in our coral farms, coral transplants harvested from our farms, or naturally occurring colonies spawned. Many cultured corals did spawn during 2008.

 Information from our collaborator, Ricardo Laureano (VIDAS, Vega Baja), confirmed that no mass spawning ocurred in A. palmata in any of the three evenings within the Candidate Vega Baja Submarine Gardens Natural Reserve, at Playa Tractores, Vega Baja, (northern PR coast). Only sporadic gamete bundles were documented during Friday 7 around 9:00 pm. 

These observations were consistent with other observations from Puerto Rico, where no mass spawning occurred in other Acroporid colonies, therefore suggesting that spawning might actually occur following the next full moon in early September. If that is the case, potential spawning dates for Acroporids may fluctuate between Sunday Sept. 6 (2nd night following full moon) and Tuesday Sept. 8. For most other coral species spawning may occur between Thursday Sept. 10 and (6th evening) and Saturday Sept. 12 (8th evening).

Saludos!

Edwin

Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado, Ph.D. 
Affiliate Researcher 
 
University of Puerto Rico 
Department of Biology 
Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation 
Coral Reef Research Group 
P.O. Box 23360 
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-3360 
 
Tel (787) 764-0000, x-2009 
Fax (787) 764-2610 
 
e-mail: coral_giac at yahoo.com 
 
Web page: http://ccri.uprm.edu/researcher/Hernandez/ 
          http://crest-catec.upr.edu/


      


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