By KAZUAKI KANDA/ Staff Writer
July 5, 2023 at 07:00 JST
AMAMI, Kagoshima Prefecture--The coral spawning season has started off Amami-Oshima island, releasing a blizzard of slow-drifting pink particles that made the ocean look like a starry sky.
The scene was captured on video by Katsuki Oki, 52, chairman of the city-based Amami Whale and Dolphin Association.
Oki began his observation on June 3 around 5 meters deep and 50 meters offshore from the Tean district of Setouchi on the southern part of the island.
Multiple Acropora coral species spawned simultaneously for about an hour from around 9:30 p.m. on July 7, and a countless number of egg-sperm bundles were released into the water.
“It was so mystifying, and I couldn’t see in front of me during the peak time,” Oki said.
Pink stripes occasionally formed on the sea surface, and the smell of spawning coral lingered in a nearby coastal settlement.
“I am impressed by how corals thrive and survive,” Oki said.
The bundles burst when they reach the surface to release eggs and sperm.
Larvae are formed from the fertilized eggs and settle on the seabed to develop new colonies.
Coral reefs around Amami-Oshima are recovering from the devastation wrought by crown-of-thorns starfish and bleaching, according to Oki.
“I hope many larvae will settle,” he said.
(Kazuaki Kanda is a stringer for The Asahi Shimbun based in Amami-Oshima island.)
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Acropora pulchra coral spawns off Setouchi, Kagoshima Prefecture, on June 7. (Provided by Katsuki Oki)
