I wrote that in a press release thirty years ago and the story took wings. The university achieved instant fame and I received newspaper clippings from all round the world, testifying to its success.
When I say “fame” I mean “fame” not “notoriety”.
The students and their professors had good reason to be proud. For the first time ever, the amazing phenomenon of mass coral spawning had been identified and subjected to scientific investigation.
Corals are sedentary creatures, confined to coralline structures, so getting together for sexual reproduction is out of the question. Instead of copulating, the small animals produce vast amounts of eggs and sperm and cast them to the currents. There’s so much of the stuff that chance fertilisation is bound to occur. The slicks of coral spawn are so big they can be seen from space.
The slicks had been observed by fishermen but had not been subjected to scientific investigation. That was thirty years ago and the first marine science research centres had only recently been established in northern Australia. Very little tropical marine science had been done and there was still an immense amount of basic information to be gathered. The general (and mistaken) view was that the slicks were algal blooms.
The students investigated the slicks and discovered the amazing phenomenon of mass coral spawning. What’s more, it was the first time the phenomenon had been identified anywhere on Earth – which tells you a lot about the state of tropical marine science in those days.
Why hadn’t coral spawning been observed in the Caribbean? That was puzzling to say the least. The corals must spawn there. America has lots of marine scientists. Why hadn’t they seen it?
The mystery was solved when the corals spawned the following year. It then became apparent that they synchronise their sexual activity using the phases of the moon as a clock. The tiny animals are so diligent in their timekeeping that they hit off within a couple of days of one another – and that goes for all species … it truly is one huge sex orgy.
The orgies occur but once a year, towards midsummer, and are over within a few days. If you are not around to see what’s going on, you miss out. In the Northern Hemisphere, coral spawning occurs during university term-time. The American marine scientists were in class teaching – so they missed out.
By doing it at the same time, the corals produce such a vast quantity of spawn that predatory fish can’t possibly devour the lot. Enough of their offspring survive to settle down and form new colonies.
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