The Smithsonian crew has been monitoring acroporids in Carrie Bow, Belize for the past 4 nights (Aug. 26 - Aug. 29). We did not observe any spawning this month. However, last month a mass acroporid spawn was observed here in Carrie Bow.
Here are Raphael Ritson-Williams' observations from last month:
Full moon night of July 25th
July 26th-No monitoring
July 27th-No spawning observed. Monitored small patch reef, too rough for CBC reef.
July 28th-No spawning observed-monitored CBC reef from 7:45-9:30pm.
July 29th-Observed Acropora palmata spawning. Only a few colonies and one or two branches within those colonies. Monitored CBC reef from 7:45-9:45pm.
July 30th- Observed Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis spawning. This was a large spawn of A. palmata (set approx. 8:10 pm and release 8:45 pm). Many colonies released gametes and typically it was the entire colony. We also observed a few A. cervicornis release gametes shortly (approx 20 min.) after the A. palmata. Monitored CBC reef from 7:45-10pm.
July 31st- Observed Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis spawning. This was a large spawn of A. cervicornis. Many colonies released gametes (set approx. 8:15 and release 9:10 pm) and typically it was the entire colony. We also observed some of the same A. palmata colonies release gametes as on the previous two nights. Monitored CBC reef from 7:45-10pm.
August 1st-Observed one A. palmata colony release gamete bundles. Also observed 5-6 Siderastrea siderea males releasing sperm (10:05-10:20pm). Monitored CBC reef from 9:15-10:30pm.
August 2nd-No spawning observed. Monitored CBC reef from 9:40-10:20.
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1 comments:
Good point, though sometimes it's hard to arrive to definite conclusions
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