Coral Spawning Starts In Amami, Southwestern Japan
Corals have started spawning in the sea off Amami Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.
Oki Katsuki, a local researcher on marine organisms, captured the footage of the phenomenon last weekend.
The location is about five meters deep in the sea around 500 meters off the coast of Yamato Village.
Oki says corals began releasing pale-pink bundles of eggs and sperm around 10:30 p.m. He says the capsule-like bundles measure 0.5 millimeter in size, and spawning lasted about 40 minutes.
Those bundles, upon reaching the surface, will burst for fertilization and take root on rocks and other places.
The coral reef at the location once died from bleaching about 20 years ago. But it has gradually returned, and now the place is one of major coral habitats around the island.
Local officials say diving companies use shared buoys, instead of anchors, when they moor ships to avoid damaging corals.
Oki says he felt how powerful corals were when he saw them producing new lives quietly at night.
He says the coral reef was once dead, but has come back to life and is now growing vigorously. He says he wants to continue monitoring the reef.
Coral spawning in the Amami region will peak over the summer and can be observed until around September.