My daughter Julia and I went out with Florida Keys Dive Center and the Scubanauts last night to see the annual coral spawn and we were able to see and photograph one of our transplanted corals spawning. We were tipped off that several of our two year old transplants had spawned Saturday night and we were hoping to catch a repeat performance. We did.
When we got in the water and did a quick look at the different transplanted corals, we noticed that one in particular had visible pink gamete bundles on some of the branches, so we set up shop there and waited for them to release the bundles. We waited for about 45 minutes, but finally at about 10:20 pm, the polyps started to release the bundles and after gently bouncing around among the branches, they would float away. At first I couldn't tell where the bundles were coming from, but finally the branch I was watching and filming began to release its bundles and I could see it happening. The spawn was more of a dribble than a big rush, but it's still significant because this was a coral we grew at our nursery and transplanted to the reef in July of 2007.
My best guess is that this particular coral was started as a small fragment in either the spring of 2005 or the spring of 2006, and was transplanted to the reef in the summer of 2007. If it was cut and mounted in the spring of 2005, then the work was done by Kelly's 4H group and Coral Shores High School students, and the work was filmed by Billy Causey, Harold Hudson, and myself. If this was the case, then the corals were cut and mounted by students, transplanted to the reef by students, and the spawn was observed and filmed by students. Pretty neat.
After Julia and I left the transplant site to watch the Elkhorn coral spawn, another colony of cervicornis spawned in a big rush, so as far as we know a total of five of the 14 surviving corals spawned, and all three genotypes spawned. Ben Mason who works with Margaret Miller collected the spawn on Saturday night, and Margaret's group is going to try to settle the larvae, raise them to juveniles, and then maybe take them back out to the reef next year.
Recording this spawn comes at a very important time in our coral restoration program because as part of an ARRA grant funded by NOAA and administered through the Nature Conservancy, we are looking to significantly expand the whole program up and down the SE coast of Florida and into the Virgin Islands. Part of the premise of the grant is that we can re-establish genetically diverse thickets of staghorn (and eventually elkhorn ) corals that will spawn and re-seed our reefs. Being able to close this "circle of life" at this time is a huge slap on the back that we're on the right track. I can't wait to get going full speed.
Ken Nedimyer, Director
Coral Restoration Foundation
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Get Involved
anyone interested in becoming involved with “Adopting a Reef” or bring groups to get involved in this program can contact Florida Keys Dive Center - click here.
Dive Shop Owners/Managers/Coral Lovers: As you can see, the work we’re doing at the Coral Restoration Foundation is paying off in a big way! By now you’ve received our Adopt-A-Coral brochure and information on the important work we’re doing at the Coral Restoration Foundation by planting thousands of corals in the Florida Keys.
Consider this an invitation to come on down to the beautiful Florida Keys and participate in a workshop sometime so you can experience the excitement of being involved in this critically important project!
As we move forward with this big coral restoration program and as people start to scrutinize us and the program, here's proof that it's going to work. As we've tried to convey to everyone, we're not trying to replant corals on every reef in the Keys, but if we can just get a few genetically diverse, sexually mature thickets growing throughout each area of the Keys, we'll be able to seed the rest of the reefs with coral larvae and let nature take it's course. By next summer there should be three or more restoration sites with sexually mature corals spawning, by 2011 there could be up to 15 such sites, and by 2012, the number could grow to 50
or more. We have the corals on our site to plant 50 sites now, but imagine what will happen when we get all the other nurseries up and running and start planting their corals out onto the reefs.
Each of these restoration sites and the nurseries themselves will also be places where we can begin to develop a selective breeding program where we can maybe breed disease resistance, heat resistance, and rapid growth into a bunch of different strains of both staghorn and elkhorn corals. I think the future of our reefs may very well depend on replanting corals with these favorable characteristics bred into them. I know this may sound radical, but I think it offers some hope and we should seriously consider this as a viable option for the survival of these species and the future of our reefs.
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