In situ observations of coral spawning and spawn slick at Lankayan Island, Sabah, Malaysia

Sexual reproduction of corals is one of the most important processes for the persistence of coral populations. The Coral Triangle is recognised as a global hotspot of marine biodiversity, harbouring 75% of the world coral species. However, coral reproductive studies remain underrepresented in many reefs in the Coral Triangle. This study reports the coral spawning and spawn slicks occurrences from 2012 to 2019 at Lankayan Island, Malaysia, a small island located in the Sulu Sea at the westernmost boundary of the Coral Triangle. A total of 14 species belonging to three genera and two families were recorded to spawn on the reefs between March and May in 2012–2015 and 2019. Between one and eight species spawned on each observed spawning night. Acropora corals appear to dominate the spawning events based on direct observations on the reefs. Coral-spawn slicks were observed during March to May every year and in October 2019. We observed coral spawning between March and May in Lankayan Island, similar to other localities within the Coral Triangle. © 2021, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

An Indo-Pacific coral spawning database.

The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology

An Indo-Pacifc coral spawning database

The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology

An Indo-Pacific coral spawning database

The authors would like to thank the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies for funding the Coral Spawning Workshop in Singapore in 2017 where the database was initially developed.The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe