Daytime broadcast spawning of Pocillopora verrucosa on coral reefs of the central Red Sea

Abstract

[Extract] Pocillopora verrucosa (Ellis & Solander 1786) was originally described as a brooder although most subsequent work suggests that it is a broadcast spawner like all other Pocillopora described to date with the exception of P. damicornis (Baird et al. 2009). Although P. verrucosa colonies from Okinawa, Japan, have been observed to spawn in containers supplied with unfiltered water (Kinzie III 1993; Hirose et al. 2000) around the new moon in the early morning, the reproductive behaviour of the species has yet to be described in the field. During a survey to observe reproductive synchrony in scleractinian corals on the morning of the 31st May 2011, one day before the new moon, on the reefs of Thuwal, Central Red Sea (22°13.442'N, 38°58.169'E), over 20 colonies of P. verrucosa were observed to release gametes between 8:40am (3h after sunrise) and 9:15am.