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

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.

Reefscapers coral gametes mature

mature coral gametes

Reefscapers coral gametes mature

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.