Coral Propagation – Monthly Progress
At Landaa during October, we transplanted 33 new coral frames (using 1744 coral fragments), kindly sponsored by guests (14), and the Resort (19). In addition, we monitored (cleaned, repaired, photographed) a further 465 frames around the island.
At Kuda Huraa this month, we transplanted 9 new coral frames, sponsor by guests (3), the Resort (5) and online (1).
5000th Coral Frame!
At the start of this month, we were happy to celebrate our 5000th Coral Frame here at Landaa Giraavaru! We hosted an event on Maldives Tourism Day for staff and guests to learn more about our coral restoration project and to help build the commemorative frame… an exciting milestone in our Reefscapers coral propagation program!
5000th Reefscapers coral frame at Landaa
Coral Spawning
This month at Kuda Huraa, we recorded spawning at the Blue Hole site (depth 3m) in Acropora secale and A. plantaginea. We collected gametes – fertilised ex-situ, and settled successfully. The development and health of the coral larvae is closely monitored and documented through routine microscopic examinations. Larval feeding began on day-5, using a krill-based food source (‘Coralific Delite’).
Gamete Monitoring
This month, in addition to our daytime gamete checks at six sites around Kuda Huraa, we conducted 16 separate night surveys to look for spawning at the House Reef and Blue Hole sites.
From our gamete checks this October, we found 48% of 142 colonies checked since July presented gametes, adding up to a total of 67 monitored Acropora colonies.
Pigmented gametes were recorded in: A. secale, A. plantaginea, A. tenuis, A. muricata.
mature coral gametes
mature coral gametes
Read our Reefscapers Diaries for further details and photographs of our ongoing coral propagation efforts and reef regeneration experiments, both in the Lab and out in the lagoon, updated each month. You may also be interested in our ongoing research and photography, studying coral spawning.