guamreeflife.com: home

Sinularia sp.

The image to the left depicts the alcyonacean soft coral, Sinularia sp. (possibly Sinularia polydactyla), and its eggs. The silky smooth eggs and the milky sperm are released nearly simultaneously by different colonies in a spectacular "mass spawning" event. On Guam, this species and perhaps other alcyonacean species, spawn about 5 to 7 days after the last full moon in April or, as happened this year, after the first full moon in May. This year the event began just after sunset - around 7 p.m., and continued for at least another hour. If you're in the water when a mass event occurs, prepare to be amazed by the sheer number - likely in the millions - of eggs floating through the water column and gathering at the surface.

Click here for more images of this species.



	Welcome to guamreeflife.com! This site is dedicated to promoting awareness of Guam's marine biodiversity through free access to hundreds of images of reef life from Guam's nearshore waters, to information about the health of Guam's coral reefs, information about current reef conservation efforts, and ways you can help.

		--- site is best viewed with Mozilla Firefox v.3.6 or higher or Google Chrome 5 or higher ---
		site highlights:		next >
	UOGML Tide Charts	- Over 13,000 photos of more than 2400 marine and freshwater species from Guam (click here) - Over 3200 photos of more than 130 reef sites around Guam (click here) - Useful information about Guam's reefs and reef conservation efforts on Guam (click here) - Links to numerous web resources about coral reefs and related topics (click here)
	Coral Bleaching Status (NOAA)
	idth: 100%;">Loading
	images Images are organized two different ways: favorites by category and by taxa for species identification copyright statement: the images on this site are to be used only for non- commercial purposes, such as personal use or not-for-profit education and outreach activities. Please email me at burdickdr at hotmail.com to request use of these images for more than personal (i.e., home) use. favorites coral reef fishes invertebrates algae and seagrasses humans and the reef sea turtles marine mammals reefscapes reef stress organism ID hard corals (scleractinians) soft corals fire and lace corals blue coral reef fishes invertebrates algae and seagrasses sea turtles marine mammals

		did you know?
		Guam's reefs host over 5,000 known marine organisms? Over 1000 species of reef fish? Over 375 species of corals? Over 225 species of algae? Guam lies relatively close to the Indo-Pacific center of biodiversity, and for such a small island, possesses a wealth of marine habitats that allow for exceptional diversity. Explore this site to see images of these incredible organisms, and check back regularly as new images are added.

			under threat
			Despite the important role that the reefs play in the lives of every resident of the island, Guam's reefs are under threat by human activity - from the harmful activities carried out on the island to the global impacts of climate change. Check out the reef tour and reef conservation sections for more information about the health of Guam's reefs, what's being done to help protect Guam's reefs, and how you can help.



		creature feature	Check back regularly for new creature features!
				Sinularia sp. The image to the left depicts the alcyonacean soft coral, Sinularia sp. (possibly Sinularia polydactyla), and its eggs. The silky smooth eggs and the milky sperm are released nearly simultaneously by different colonies in a spectacular "mass spawning" event. On Guam, this species and perhaps other alcyonacean species, spawn about 5 to 7 days after the last full moon in April or, as happened this year, after the first full moon in May. This year the event began just after sunset - around 7 p.m., and continued for at least another hour. If you're in the water when a mass event occurs, prepare to be amazed by the sheer number - likely in the millions - of eggs floating through the water column and gathering at the surface. Click here for more images of this species.
		next >

	Last updated on 11/14/12

home - images - guam - reef tour - reef conservation - links - about