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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Discoveries
Volume 12 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1514216
First spawning record of the widespread Indo-Pacific Pavona maldivensis observed in the Red Sea
Provisionally accepted- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Saudi Arabia
Information on coral reproductive biology and coral spawning times is crucial to advance basic and applied research and inform strategies for coral reef conservation and restoration. Important efforts have been made to collate coral spawning times and reproductive patterns in global and regional datasets. Here, we report and document the first in situ spawning of Pavona maldivensis Gardiner, 1905, observed in the Red Sea. A medium size colony was observed releasing sperm on the full moon night on 23 May 2024, at sunset time. Our observations suggest that the widespread Indo-Pacific P. maldivensis is likely gonochoric. This first report on the in situ spawning timing for P. maldivensis contributes to expanding coral spawning databases and provides valuable data on its reproductive biology, which is relevant for coral restoration and conservation efforts.
Keywords: Coral reproductive biology, Coral gametes, Broadcast spawners, Coral sperm release, Red Sea
Received: 20 Oct 2024; Accepted: 06 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Garcias-Bonet, Casartelli, Vimercati, Benzoni and Peixoto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Neus Garcias-Bonet, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 07190, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Saudi Arabia
Raquel Peixoto, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 07190, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Saudi Arabia
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