Hawai'i Coral spawning - 2022
- Phillip Cleves
- Jul 31, 2022
- 1 min read
The Cleves lab traveled to O'ahu, Hawai'i for coral spawning! The team consisted of Amanda Tinoco, Natalie Swinhoe, and Phillip Cleves.
A lab at Kāneʻohe Bay very generously hosted the team for coral spawning.
The team went out to collect Montipora capitata coral by boat before the expected coral spawning window.
The team took the boat out to the bay's collection site.
The lab found the Montipora coral...
... and safely brought them back up to the boat. Each coral colony was placed in a bucket and transported back to the station.
The corals were kept in controlled spawning systems. Under red light, the team checked for signs of coral spawning at night.
The team performed many experiments in the laboratory throughout coral spawning.
The lab equipment included an electroporator (above, right: used to deliver materials into coral zygotes) and the lab's favorite piece of portable equipment, the Bento lab (below)! The box allows a user to run gel electrophoresis (left), spin down samples in a mini centriuge (middle), and run polymerase chain reactions (right section). It is a miniature lab on the go!
With the experiments wrapped up and corals returned, the team prepared to head back home.
With that, Hawai'i coral spawning 2022 concluded. The team is very appreciative of the hosts and personnel that supported this effort.
Stay tuned to hear about updates from this work!
Photos taken by AT and NS.