One of the region’s great natural phenomena began to unfold this week as the annual coral spawning cycle commenced.
The yearly reproduction event began on Monday, November 14, with coral across the Great Barrier Reef synchronising its breeding by releasing millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water.
The bundles containing the elements for life erupt from coral across the reef in unison, covering the sea in colourful clouds which rise slowly to the surface where fertilisation begins before settling to the ocean floor to develop into coral.
In the Reef’s outer stretches, coral spawning occurs during November after a full moon, normally lasting from a few days to a week.
Master Reef Guide and skipper of Kiana Sail and Dive, Brent Chatterton experienced this year’s spawning event firsthand on a five-day four-night trip to the Reef.
“We had the pleasure of seeing the coral spawning; it was amazing. Sunday night we saw the initial evidence of the spawning where they began to release the sperm and the egg,” Mr Chatterton said.
“[On Monday night] it was incredible when at around eight o’clock, the coral spawned before our eyes. It’s like an amazing snowstorm of baby corals under the water.”
Mr Chatteron said he saw different species of coral spawn over a period of days, with his tour witnessing the ‘bushies’ and Acropora corals spawning first.
“It is such a critical event, not only for coral but for fish species. It provides a tremendous amount of nutrients for small and big fishes to eat,” he said.
“The quantities are so vast to allow for it to be eaten, as well as migrate in the ocean currents to settle in other reefs as well, giving the chance for biodiversity to spread through the coral reef system.”
The Master Reef Guide said it signified a few things: “That the lifecycle of the coral is rejuvenating, ready to resettle on systems damaged by cyclones and storms.”
“Storms and cyclones are part of the coral lifecycle, the break and build. From an operator’s point of view, it’s refreshing to take tourists from all over the planet to see the health of the reef in an exciting time where the coral can be reborn and grow,” he said.
Coral Spawning is being utilised by Australian Institute of Marine Science for a project in the Whitsundays known as The Boats4Corals Program which collects spawn for resettling on places where reefs have become denuded.
In 2022, Boats4Corals will commence during this week’s spawn.
Coral spawning began across the fringes of the Great Barrier Reef on Monday, November 14
Images: Maddie Gablehouse aboard Kiana Sail and Dive