This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, History, Snorkeling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Spawning Photo Courtesy UH Malamalama Magazine, Mushroom Photo Courtesy Katie Grove-Velasquez
Mushroom corals, or ‘ako’ako’a kohe, in Hawaiian, are a most unusual coral in the respect that they live solitary lives. They have a little foot on the underside allowing them to travel short distances while young, the foot then breaking away. These dense corals have a central mouth which is visible to the human eye. Their feeding tentacles glow a beautiful green color, which they get from zooxanthellae algae that lives symbiotically inside the mushroom cells. This algae generates energy rich nutrients for the coral and produce a protein that gives the tentacles that beautiful florescent green color. These solitary corals are known to the science world as Fungia Scutaria.
Spawning is done on a lunar cycle. It is very interesting to note that the moon cycles control a great deal on our blue planet. Researchers know that spawning occurs 1 – 4 days after a full moon beginning in late June and continues through early October. During the other months nothing happens. The research further shows that an individual can produce sperm one season and eggs the next. David Krupp, a professor working on O`ahu has studied these animals for many years. He tells us that these corals, and undoubtedly others, will not be successful in spawning if water temperatures rise too high. For the fungia, that temperature limit is 28C. But these creative little corals can also propagate in a different way. They can bud. That is, grow another animal from the parent one, creating a complete mushroom coral that will break off and go on its own! Nature never ceases to amaze.
The ancient Hawaiians valued these corals and used the skeletons to scrape off boar bristles, and many woodworking tasks. They even mention the coral polyp in their ancient chant of creation called Kumulipo.
Snorkeling in Hawaii is a wondrous experience and one not to be missed. Mushroom corals are everywhere and spawning events this year are still possible to witness. Whether you are a good swimmer or not doesn’t matter. Everyone floats in salt water, and floating is all you need to do.
