Scientists witness coral spawning

The Egyptian team, working for the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), observed “a unique and remarkable mass release of gametes [eggs and sperm] from more than 12 species of hard corals” near Hurghada in early May.

The exercise had, said HEPCA, been the “first scientific observation ever done in the Egyptian Red Sea” of coral spawning. Its recording on video had been a “real breakthrough”.

The release, which occurs once a year and, to the uninitiated, leaves the sea “clouded by an unidentified reddish substance”, occurred as the team had predicted it would.

Data from previous studies by “various researchers and institutes” was “collected and analyzed by the HEPCA team”, which “came to the conclusion that the mass spawning takes place either two days before or after the full moon, usually in the period between 20 April and 6 May”.