Coral Spawning

I've got my Barry White cd loaded in my waterproof cd player.. I've got a bottle of wine.. Some roses and some strawberries for the occasion too..

What I don't have are the dates!?!?

I'm getting conflicting dates from my sources. Some are saying early August 6-8 while others are saying end of August (early September even) for the Star Coral spawning in the Florida Keys.

I have had no luck finding Dr. Alina Szmant's prediction anywhere -- would have helped if I would have been subscribed to the coral newsgroup (duh!).

Can anyone help?

Desperately seeking,

Mr. Coral Voyeur

Well... I'm going out with the Flower Gardens sanctuary people for this year's orgy between August 5 and 10, and there is a fair amount of star coral out there, so we'd be hoping for the sooner rather than the later.

Of course those Floridian corals may just be slow

Thanks for the info, Craig. More people seem to be betting that the corals will be doing the cuchykoo this coming weekend than on the end of the month. Worse case scenario I could always dive both.. I can always use a good excuse for doing a night dive.

Considering how we tend to handle the elections around here, I wouldn't be surprised if the corals are adding their two bits of uncertainty and surprise to the bunch too.

Eight or nine days after the full moon this month (Aug) and next month (Sept). WHen I dove the spawn at the FGB, the corals and sponges went off on the 8th day after.

Cheers

James

I was at the Flower Gardens last weekend, and saw a couple of sponges that apparently suffer from premature.......

That's a GREAT shot CP!

Cheers

James

I was at the Flower Gardens last weekend, and saw a couple of sponges that apparently suffer from premature.......

Since you raised the topic...

Thanks James.

Mine was taken at about 125 feet. There was a very large cloud of, well, there was a large cloud. I'd love to be out there for the spawn(s) this year but it isn't going to happen. Maybe next year.

Dave - nice shot - where is that?

Cp

Cp......

Dave...

Thanks James.  

 

Dave - nice shot - where is that?

 

Cp

This was taken in Feb '04 at Paradise Reef in Cozumel. This lonely guy was on his own at about 60 feet.

Camera settings: Oly 5050 f5 1/125 ISO 100

Dave

For Florida star coral I would go for Friday and Saturday night. Those are the nights I tend to go out on the pull. Tonight (thursday) is probably best for Acroporids.

Alex

Late August - no chance!