1. deepseanews
  2. Red Hot Coral Spawning Action

Red Hot Coral Spawning Action

By cmcclain on May 1, 2008.

Coral spawning occurs when multiple corals release their gametes at the same moment. The underwater love fests are triggered by the moon, temperature, and mood music (Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe). All this sexual activity underwater can trigger other organisms to join in. Basically little colored balls consisting of both sperm and eggs, wrapped in a mucus, detach and float away. These love packets eventually break apart due to water movement. Now the real action happens were sperm and eggs seek each other out. When a match occurs, the development of the larvae ensues that hangs in the water column for a few weeks before settling on the seafloor.


More coral porn below the fold...

Another video here (best of bunch)
And here
A lot more here
And here

Tags
Uncategorized

More like this

Seamounts 2007, Day 2-3
Our second day at sea was brought to close on much calmer seas. We again dove on Pioneer Seamount, the northernmost station during our cruise and approximately parallel with San Fran Cheezy. We continued to explore the volcanic cones. In contrast to the deeper habitats on day 1 where corals…
Sand dollar larva clone themselves in response to danger
I wish I could do this: Scientists exposed 4-day-old sand dollar larvae to fish mucus, a sign that danger is close. They found that the larvae created clones of themselves within 24 hours. "It's the first time we've seen anything clone itself in response to cues that predators are near," said…
Do sponges have circadian clocks?
Much of the biological research is done in a handful of model organisms. Important studies in organisms that can help us better understand the evolutionary relationships on a large scale tend to be hidden far away from the limelight of press releases and big journals. Here's one example (March…
Do sponges have circadian clocks?
Much of the biological research is done in a handful of model organisms. Important studies in organisms that can help us better understand the evolutionary relationships on a large scale tend to be hidden far away from the limelight of press releases and big journals. Here's one example (March 30…