BY MANDY BOLEN
keysnews.com
Love is in the air, or water, for various species of coral this week as the unique animal of the reef system takes advantage of the August full moon and engages what is known as mass spawning.
In an ancient, and still mysterious ritual, the coral polyps simultaneously release small bundles of reproductive cells into the nighttime waters surrounding the reef in the hope that some will meet, mate and live happily ever after in a nearby area where they will develop from coral larvae, or planulae, into a new coral colony that only grows at a rate of one centimeter per year.
The annual spawning is not as effective or efficient as other mating rituals, which further threatens the survival of the coral reef systems throughout the world, but offers a unique visual treat for divers and snorkelers who can watch the swirling, fluorescent light show that occurs as the bundles are released into the dark water and begin the search for a mate as they rise toward the surface.
"When the corals spawn, divers feel like they are in the middle of a snow globe," said Alina Szmant, a scientist from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's Center for Marine Science.
Diver operators from many local shops will be offering night dives this week to allow residents and visitors the annual chance to see romance at the reef.
A boat from Dive Key West will be heading out to the elkhorn formations at Western Sambos in the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Thursday night to view the spawning, said Michelle Walters.
Szmant, along with NOAA scientist Margaret Miller, have been working for years as "matchmakers" for the corals, trying to increase the reproductivity and thereby the coral population. Szmant and Miller are in the Keys this week to watch and help the spawning of elkhorn and star coral that was expected to begin last night and continue through Friday night between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m.
Their goal is to harness as many reproductive bundles in a special type of net once they are released from the polyps. By containing the bundles in relatively close quarters, the scientists hope to increase the fertilization rate, as the cells are less likely to float away in the current.
"It has taken a long time to tease these secrets from the corals," said Szmant, who has been working on the project since 1983. "With the whole event done and over in less than one hour, you just have to be lucky to be out there the first time at the right time -- late at night, offshore, in the dark."
"It's been difficult to assemble all of the personnel and equipment to get as far as we have," she added. "Only now, when coral reefs worldwide are in serious trouble, is there funding and interest in coral reef restoration -- it would have been much easier to learn how to do all this when corals were healthier and more abundant."
mbolen@keysnews.com
