[Coral-List] seeking Xesto sponge spawning observations

[Alec Hutchinson]

Hi Casey,

I dive almost daily in Palm Beach county and have been observing widespread
spawning of barrel sponges on reefs South of the Lake Worth inlet,
specifically the dive sites known as Breakers, Flower Gardens and Paul's
Reef.  Water temps have been 76-78F and depths on these sites range from
45-60ft.

Starting about 10 days ago was my first observation of small amounts of
gelatinous masses around some of the sponges.  Yesterday, the reef was
essentially covered and there was a lot in the water column and on the reef
floor, reducing visibility substantially due to all the particulate matter
from the bottom up to about 15 feet off the floor.  Water was otherwise
very clean and blue with great visibility higher in the water column.
Dives have been conducted at all times of day, both morning and afternoon
with no real variation in observations.

I'm afraid I don't have any coordinates for sites.

Cheers,
Alec Hutchinson
On Apr 28, 2016 8:52 PM, "McDonough, Vanessa" <vanessa_mcdonough at nps.gov>
wrote:

> Hi Casey!
> My dive team had the good fortune of seeing large-scale Xesto spawning in
> Biscayne National Park on Monday April 25th. We entered the water at about
> 9am and spawning was well underway and continued for the entirety of our
> dive day, which ended at around 1pm, although it seemed much stronger in
> the earlier portion of the day.  Some females had eggs within the barrel,
> others were releasing the eggs into the water column, and we also saw males
> releasing sperm.  I do not recall seeing any gelatinous masses/embryos
> around the sponge.   of course, I did not have a camera with me to capture
> any images.  :(
>
> The location we were diving was the Triumph reef area.  We were basically
> drifting along the wall at the park's eastern boundary in 60 to 65 feet of
> water. Starting coordinates were 25.46385 N , -80.11173 W.  By my dive
> computer, the water temp was somewhere around 77 degrees F.
>
>
> Vanessa McDonough, Ph.D.
> Fishery and Wildlife Biologist
> Biscayne National Park
> 9700 SW 328th St
> Homestead, FL 33033
> ph: 305-230-1144 ext 027
> fax: 305-230-1190
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:45:30 +0000
> > From: "Butler, Casey" <Casey.Butler at MyFWC.com>
> > Subject: [Coral-List] seeking Xesto sponge spawning observations
> > To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Message-ID:
> >         <
> >
> BY2PR09MB096F0957A650B73FB81486C88640 at BY2PR09MB096.namprd09.prod.outlook.com
> > >
> >
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > Does anyone on Coral-List have observations of barrel sponge spawning?
> We
> > have been recording observations around the Florida Keys, and are
> > interested in collecting more Xestospongia muta spawning observations in
> > the hopes of summarizing some of their spawning behavior.
> >
> > I appreciate any info you can provide regarding the location, date/time,
> > temperature, depth, and perhaps if you recall whether males were
> releasing
> > sperm (smoking), females had eggs (looks like foam), eggs were being
> > released into water column (drifting foam), or whether there was a
> > gelatinous mass around the sponge (embryos).
> >
> > If you haven't seen these amazing sponges spawn, check out our video:
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zWrSmpkV_I
> >
> > Thank you!
> >
> > Casey
> >
> >
> > Casey Boleman Butler
> > Biological Scientist
> > Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
> > Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
> > South Florida Regional Laboratory
> > 2796 Overseas Hwy Suite 119
> > Marathon, FL 33050
> > Telephone: (305) 676-3225
> > Fax: (305) 289-2334
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -
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