I've just posted an animated composite of about 27 frames of a Great Star Coral spawning last night. The file is about 2MB, so be patient waiting for the whole thing to load for viewing. It's at:

http://www.BonaireDiving.com/richter/20020829-CoralSpawn/

Jake

Wow! Cool - thanks for sharing with the rest of us.

Hi Jake, great pic's. Wish we could see it live....

wow jake, i don't think you were shaking the camera too much! absolutely amazing! thanks for sharing.

Amazing Jake, certainly something most people will never see…I’m sure it will be even better once I get DSL.

Jake, That was abselutely fantastic. Amazing photography. Thank you for showing us something that I could never dream of seeing with my own eyes. Looking at it through your eyes is just as good. Annie B.

I just figured the swaying back and forth was surge... Made me feel like I was there...

Has anything in your aquarium decided to spawn this year? Those urchins last year were fascinating...

Faith

My wife and I just watched your coral spawn XXX video.....are you selling these short videos?
LOL
We will be arriving late September 4th for our first trip to Bonaire. We are most inspired by your photography and getting more excited by the minute...and BT postings.

SEA U SOON!!!!!

Jimmy & Margarite

We are arriving on Sept 28th, and might be able to catch some of the action if in deed it does happen from the 26th-28th of September. I looks like we will be planning to do a night dive on our day of arrival. Does anyone have a suggestion as to which site to try. We will be staying at the Plaza.

Robert

robert, unless you have been diving on bonaire within the last year of your arrival, you will have to wait until your second night to dive...as you will have to go through orientation at toucan prior to diving on the island...our first night we night snorkeled, and there was enough soft coral in the shallows to see some great colors and lots of other cool stuff. have a great time!

That's some amazing footage, Jake. Thanks for being so patient and for taking the time to load it up for us to experience. Do all of the "cells" eventually "erupt", too? Or is there just one, single one which does the actual spawning? Just curious. Thanks again. Carole

Carole,

Check the webcam section of bonaire talk.... 'wonderful wednesday' thread for pictures posted by Ellen of the same type coral smoking. The picture(s) show multiple "cells" erupting at the same time.

That was just wonderful Jake... thanks for sharing it.. Q: did you see any activity from the female Cavernosa?

Carole,

We hope to get in early enough so that we can do our check out dive on our day of arrival. If Air Jamaica cooperates, we hopefuly can get this accomplished. Our vehicles are to be ready for us at the airport, so after check-in at the Plaza, the orientation dive is the first prioity.

Robert

great robert! have a wonderful time!

Jake,

Greetings from the Oregon Coast! Barbe and I really enjoyed your photos of the spawning corals.

Bob

Thanks, Bas. Yes, her shots are totally awesome...Ellen's works just blow me away...she is such a natural talent when it comes to photography. Ellen's looks like a starburst into the skies... beautiful. Carole

ok sarah, what does a female Cavernosa look like?

Really great camera work, Jake ~
Would love to see the whole video!
~ Sandra

Jake

Cool shots, I hope that they have saved some for September.

Cynde

Cavernosa - I thought that in Harry Potter this levitates things like feathers. Here is a shot of the Montastraea cavernosa from http://www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/pgallery/pgflower/habitats/habitats_6.html

Jake have your kids seen the film Harry Potter? if not I have it DVD and could bring it next month.

Brian

brian, so is that a female?

Great footage Jake...Gosh I wish I was there to see it first hand.

Cynde

As it hasn't got a purple handbag, then I guess it's a male :-}

It's a good question though other than at spawning how can you tell which sex a coral head is? any ideas BTers?

Wow - don't check BonaireTalk for a weekend, and look what happens - questions galore. I'll have to see if I can answer them all in one message:

1) Brian - Kids have already seen Harry Potter and we have the DVD, but thanks for asking! (I also don't think a British regional DVD will play on our U.S. player, BTW.) See you and Sue soon!

2) Sarah - Bas & I kept looking for egg spawning M. cavernosa (the Latin name for the Great Star Coral), but didn't find any, just like we didn't find any sperm spewing black sea rods. I think that the end of Sept. will show to be the major "eruption".

3) Coral P*rn flicks @ CoralSex.com - only $199.00 per month? :-) Interesting idea, but I don't think the world's quite ready for that (never mind they only perform once a year!)

4) Carole - yes, the rest of the polyps also spewed forth their "loads" - it seemed to be regional - first one part of the coral colony would start letting loose, a few polyps at a time, then another part, and so one. I think, but don't know for sure, that some polyps spewed more than once. They get all engorged (go figure!) and their outsides, which are normally hard as rock, but a bit slimy from the zooxanthelle algae which gives them their color, were actually more jellyfish or anemone like in their texture and rigidity. Basically the organism completely changes state when spawning. That was pretty fascinating.

5) Longer video - I'll work on that for the next spawn dive. This one was only the second night dive I've taken with my video camera, so the shots were more experimental than anything else.

6) Jimmy - There's a BonaireTalk dinner at Gibi's Terrace on Saturday, Sept. 7th - see you there?

7) I agree with everyony about Ellen - she's got an amazing eye and great photo skills, and she's even humble about it!

Thanks everyone!

Jake

Oh, here are a few more captures from the video from that night - not great quality, but it was a fun dive:

Spotted Lobster


Teardrop Crab & Shrimp


Banded Coral Shrimp


Bonnetmouth - My first one ever!


Brittle star & Flame Scallop/File Clam


Sharpnose Puffer sleeping/camouflaging on ReefCam Mooring


Peacock Flounder sleeping/camouflaging on ReefCam Mooring


Very odd looking crusctacean attract by our lights - about 3 inches long, fast swimming, translucent.

wow jake, great photos...the sleeping puffer is very cool...so i guess the mooring block provides a virtual slumber party every night

Yes Jake, nice pics..

Hope you can get some footage of the major "eruption"..

Great Work Jake, thanks for sharing.

Jake,

What Sony video camera were you using? Rae is looking into a sony video camera. So far are you satisfied with the performance?

Thanks.

I use a Sony PC-100. I think that Sony has a PC-120 or even later out - I'd suggest getting the latest one in that series as the image quality does get better, as does the still photo capability. And there are usually ample choices for housings for Sony video cameras.

Jake

thanks for sharing jake. nice for us folks who are landlocked!!!

Jake, you could see his dorsal and know it's not a Boga? they sure look the same in the Reef Fish book, it says that is the only way to differentiate them. I saw a slew of them at Weber's Joy on Monday.



also, here is the brittle star shooting eggs

Jake, you could see his dorsal and know it's not a Boga? they sure look the same in the Reef Fish book, it says that is the only way to differentiate them. I saw a slew of them at Weber's Joy on Monday.



also, here is the brittle star shooting eggs

The star pic loses something in the downsizing

Lets try this one

Thats just too neat!

Very sure it's a bonnetmouth and not a boga. Size is one differentiator too - the Bonnetmouth was quite a bit bigger, and the coloration and fin shapes were not quite the same as bogas (which I see frequently on dives).

Jake

Seb, how about this one (animated gif) for the brittle star spawn.....?

ellen, what the...? can you please give me a play by play? i can't figure out for the life of me what is going on there!

Ellen, that is too awesome, I bow to a greater power.
Thanks for the clarification Jake. The pictures in the Humann books make them look much alike.

Cynde, the brittle star in the gif climbed up on top of the coral head, lifted itself up and swayed a moment before releasing it's mass of eggs. I must say it was much more impressive to watch than the "male" brittle stars that were languishing lazily and releasing their sperm smoke clouds without much effort or show of any kind! Here are the last two pics that I used in the gif in a larger size so you can see what is happening better.

Ellen

Thanks, great and very interesting shots.

ellen, thanks. my monitor at home is small, and i couldn't see the eggs..wow! how big was this star? this convinces me i really need to get a prescription mask and add the sticky bifocals once this season is over...i am missing way too much!

Cynde, I think we need to move to Bonaire, and dive as frequently as Ellen & others on Bonaire do, in order to catch the wonders they are sharing with us!

Thanks, Ellen, for more wonderful night-dive pix!
You've just about convinced me to try another night dive...

Cynde, this is off the topic at hand, but I thought I should throw this in. Don't mess with the sticky bifocals. They come off after a while and when they are loose but not gone, they are worse than nothing at all.

Go to http://www.prescriptiondivemasks.com. They made me a bifocal dive mask that I truly love. I can see my gauges and camera controls perfectly and look up and see fine details 10 or 12 feet away. The company is run by diving opthomologists, what more could you ask for?

jeff, thanks for the info. wow, went to their site and they are close to me! i am calling fist thing monday morning. glad you have experience with them! i have another research dive on the 19th, and they do rush orders, think i will try to get mine done before then

ginny, i agree! although i don't think i could take the year round heat...i'm spoiled!

Very cool Ellen, I've never seen anything like it!

Thank you Ellen and thank you Jeff! I use a prescription mask, myself, and probably need to have it made stronger...it is probably five years old now. Nearsighted, but as I am getting older, it is tougher to read that fine print, too! LOL. I could not believe the difference in what I was seeing once I started using the prescription mask! Wow!

I have "saved" the site you provided to us, Jeff. Thanks a million. Our dive shop has left us for the NJ Shore area. The opthalmogist was right next door to the dive shop, too....it was a perfect set up, but it does not exist any longer.

Cynde Lee: Will we be seeing some more neat kelp shots from you??? I hope so! Good luck on your dive. Ayo. CArole (Shutterbug)