{"id":20494,"date":"2013-11-21T08:52:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T08:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/no-barrier-to-great-sex-on-queenslands-reef-this-year-2\/"},"modified":"2013-11-21T08:52:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T08:52:00","slug":"no-barrier-to-great-sex-on-queenslands-reef-this-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/11\/no-barrier-to-great-sex-on-queenslands-reef-this-year-2\/","title":{"rendered":"No barrier to great sex on Queensland\u2019s reef this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The scuba diving fraternity along Queensland\u2019s coast is gearing up for the biggest sex show on the planet as the world\u2019s largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef, prepares for the annual coral spawning season.<\/span><\/span>

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With sea temperatures already hovering above the magic 26 degree mark and a late November full moon expected to slow tidal flow to twice a day reducing the chance of sweeping the spawn out to sea, marine scientists believe this year\u2019s November 22-24 spawn spectacular will be the best in years.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Tusa Dive and Quicksilver\u2019s Silverswift, two Cairns based dive operators, have packaged special night diving tours specifically around the event.<\/span><\/div>\n

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 <\/strong>According to Russell Hore, a veteran marine biologist with Quicksilver, \u201ccoral spawning is the Everest of seeing reproduction in nature and should be on every diver\u2019s bucket list.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cA lot of factors need to align before you can see the reef go off,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>\"Tusa_Coral<\/div>\n
\u201cTo begin with, spawning tends to happen at night when plankton feeders are asleep (allowing eggs time to fertilize) and you need almost perfect tides, weather and temperatures.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen you narrow it down to an event that is hit and miss; and you actually get to see it, then it\u2019s something you will remember forever.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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A marine biologist since 1989, Hore has three spawning experiences under his own weight belt and says divers can expect to see eggs popping out of the coral.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen a big boulder coral goes off, it releases an underwater snow storm and you get to see hundreds of bundles floating to the surface.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cYou know when it is happening. There\u2019s a slick on the surface and the smell on one hand, while on the other, most of the fish life are sitting on the bottom with distended stomachs. It\u2019s like they have stuffed themselves with Tim Tams.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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Contrary to popular belief, Hore adds that too much sex is not a good thing when it comes to coral.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cYou don\u2019t want it to get too crazy. If you get too much spawn at once, visibility goes down.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cYou also don\u2019t want the reef to produce sperm at the same time as eggs or there\u2019s a risk of self fertilisation and a potential impact on the reef\u2019s gene pool.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cA 30 minute delay and a gentle tide are definitely best,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Twelve hundred kilometres south of Cairns, Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort dive instructor Ryan Jeffery said anyone who misses the northern reef\u2019s spawning season in November can get a second shot at it on the Southern Great Barrier Reef.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cBeing at the southern end of the 2700km long reef, the water around Lady Elliot Island takes a little longer to hit the perfect 26 degrees and marine experts predict coral spawning will happen this year sometime between December 20 and 25.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s going to be a great Christmas present for anyone here during the holiday season.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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Station Manager at neighbouring Heron Island Research Station, Doctor Elizabeth Perkins will be working with a team of University of Queensland post graduate researchers to collect spawn and conduct experiments relating to climate change.<\/span><\/div>\n

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A keen fan of what she calls \u2018reproduction on a mass scale\u2019, Dr Perkins agrees the Southern Great Barrier Reef is a good place to watch spawning.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWith the diversity and number of coral here on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, the spectacle is incredible.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cIf you pick the right night, it\u2019s amazing to see the release. The water is alive with creatures feeding on the eggs,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThis time of year there are also turtles mating in the ocean and laying eggs on the beaches; and the waters are full of mantas (rays),<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThere is a definite buzz about the reef.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s not all positive. Doctor Perkins warns there is also a smell that \u201cyou don\u2019t realise from watching it on the Discovery Channel.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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For travellers unable to go on the night dives, the lead up to coral spawning offers an exclusive insight into the reef\u2019s birthing process.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Quicksilver\u2019s Hore says if you get up close to the coral just before spawning, \u201cyou can actually see distinct little colorations in the mouth of the coral, little signs that ejaculation on a mass scale is about to take place.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s almost like you are experiencing a pregnancy on a really small scale \u2013 without the demand for ice cream!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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Irrespective of where divers choose to be, Perkins, Jeffery and Hore all agree that Queensland\u2019s Great Barrier Reef is the best place in the world to see the phenomenon.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cBiologically, it\u2019s the most diverse system in the world and there are more corals here than anywhere else,\u201d Perkins said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen we talk about mass coral spawning, we are talking about branching types of coral, which make up 60 percent of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s also a lot cleaner here than other places around the world,\u201d adds Jeffery.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The scuba diving fraternity along Queensland\u2019s coast is gearing up for the biggest sex show on the planet as the world\u2019s largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef, prepares for the annual coral spawning season. With sea temperatures already hovering above the magic 26 degree mark and a late November full moon expected to slow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}