Purple sea plume spawning at KML

Day 1:  New coral planulae emerge on the mother sea plume colony (November 23, 2016)

Dr. Mary Alice Coffroth (SUNY Buffalo) and her team from the BURR Lab (Buffalo Undersea Reef Research) captured the purple sea plume (Antillegorgia bipinnata) spawning event at KML. These corals spawned 1 week before the November new in  moon KML's new seawater well system.

Day 10: Planulae settling on tiles, mouth parts developing (photo by DJ Valent)

Day 15: New recruits! Planulae metamorphosed and settled on pre-conditioned ceramic tiles, polyp tentacles beginning to develop. Baby corals were inoculated with photosynthetic algae (Symbiodinium) harvested from the mother colony.

Day 21: Tentacles extended. These are octocorals (soft coral) so they have 8 tentacles on each polyp which capture small particles (zooplankton) from the water. Purple calcareous spicules (sclerites) are beginning to form in the base of the polyp, protecting the baby coral from predation.

Day 21: Brownish tinge in tentacles 6 days after inoculation, is evidence of the uptake of Symbiodinium which photosynthetically provides nutrients to the growing coral.

Day 23: More purple sclerites and brown algal symbionts visible

Day 31 

Keys Marine Lab Science Seminar Dec 7th

 

“What’s the big deal about microplastics?”

by Sarah Egner 

Key Largo Marine Resources Development Foundation

Dec 7th Wed. 6:00-7:00pmKeys Marine Lab Classroom - mile marker 68.5

While the huge amounts of plastic in our waters is utterly apparent on just about any boat ride, what is even more concerning is that much of the marine debris is invisible to the naked eye.  Microplastics come from a variety of sources, most of which are commonly found in every day households and end up going down the drain.  Marine animals from plankton to corals to baleen whales have been documented ingesting the foreign material.  The types, sources and impacts of microplastics will be discussed.  Solutions that any Keys citizen can do will be proposed including participation in a statewide citizen science project.  

You are welcome welcome to bring a 1 L water sample for microplastic analysis after the seminar.

~Future Topics ~

Jan 4: Ken Nedimyer – Coral Restoration Foundation

Feb 1: NASA NEEMO Mission at FIU Aquarius underwater habitat

March 1: Dave Vaughn - Mote Marine Lab

April 5: Maria Cooksey (FWC/FWRI) FKNMS boater distribution