Acropora reef-building coral synchronized sprawling

Acropora reef-building coral synchronized sprawling

Full moon nights in summer are very special for corals. At 10 p.m., when water is around 24°C (75°F), Acropora digitifera corals in the southernmost part of Japan start to release their eggs and sperm, known as gametes, exactly at the same time in a process called synchronized spawning. (The coral which is shown here is Acropora.)

Date:

10 December 2015

Creator:

letizia-diamante

Credit:

Yuna Zayasu

Copyright OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 沖縄科学技術大学院大学). Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

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Research

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