So cool! This is a female Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) spawning.
We had to work a little late tonight, but it paid off because just before we were getting ready to leave, Eric noticed that a few sea stars were spawning in one of the tanks at the lab!
It's possible they were triggered by the recent change in the weather. When the NW winds are strong, seawater temperatures are usually cool; then when the winds calm down, seawater temperatures often rise. Yesterday the seawater temperature was 9°C (48°F), but it increased to 13°C (55°F) today.
Here's an even closer view where you can see a large number of eggs being released through pores in the surface of the sea star:
We were curious about whether other animals might also be triggered to spawn, so we checked another nearby tank and...voilà!
This is a male Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens) releasing sperm. The raised pores in the shell act like little volcanoes when the abalone is spawning:
We don't get to see sea stars and abalone spawning that often, so it was a fun way to end the day!
fabulous pictures and info. I feel like I've seen something really special. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSue
This is so exciting and fascinating! I expect that so many of your blog recipients, like me, had no idea how much of sea life procreated. Thanks so much for your interesting and informative posts!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you could comment in a future post about the black protuberance coming out of the abalone shell.
Thanks, always, for enlightening us with your blog posts!
Kathy
Just read the comment by Limantour Walker. I too noticed the black thingie(s)!
ReplyDeleteThey also are below the abalone’s shell. Hmnnn… WHAT are they?
Love the “ emanating smoke “ out of the abalone holes! Wow. Eerie.
In awe of The SPAWN!
Hi, all,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the questions! The black structures are tentacles -- in this case, epipodial tentacles, i.e., tentacles arising from the foot. When you think about a snail, you probably imagine a pair of cephalic tentacles (on their head) used for sensing the environment. Abalone have those, but they also have numerous tentacles around the edge of the foot. Epipodial tentacles are also sensory structures -- used to explore their surroundings, to search for food, and to detect possible predators etc.
Jackie