Eric was doing an end-of-day check on some tanks in the lab last night and noticed some sea urchins spawning! Above, a male Purple Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) with clouds of sperm being released from the gonopores on the upper surface.
Looking around, we eventually noticed a few female Purple Sea Urchins releasing eggs (more yellow-orange in color):
Our guess is that warmer ocean temperatures during the past couple of days triggered spawning. There's been a lot of upwelling this year, with water temperatures as low as ~8.8°C (~47°F). But winds calmed down at the end of the week and temperatures rose to ~12°C (~54°F).
There were also a couple of other echinoderms spawning. Here's a male Red Sea Urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) releasing sperm:
1 comment:
Cool!
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