Curacao coral spawning field workshop
SECORE Curacao coral spawning field workshop - August 23 till September 2, 2010
The Curacao coral spawning field workshop is organized by SECORE, in collaboration with the Curacao Sea Aquarium, CARMABI, Diveversity and Animal Encounters.
It is the first out of a series, and part of a 3-year Acropora restoration project.
This 3-year project aims to develop new methods of saving endangered corals, using sexual reproduction. Therefore, a coral culture system has been built at the Curacao Sea Aquarium.
It will be the nursery of thousands of coral babies, which will eventually be reintroduced in the reefs in the future.
A student of the Ruhr-University of Bochum (Germany) will do her PhD on this project in the coming 3 years.
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Location & time
Curacao harbors some of the last Elkhorn coral ad Staghorn coral populations that are still reproducing. The findings of the upcoming project will help to conserve corals in the Caribbean and around the world.
Coral reef CuracaoThe annual spawning event of endangered Elkhorn coral and Staghorn coral is expected to take place during the workshop. If that indeed happens, a group of international scientists and aquarists will collect eggs and sperm from these corals in the reefs around Curacao.
Goals of the workshop
Main goal of this workshop is of course to collect sperm and eggs and culture new corals from these.
Other goals of this workshop are:
* sharing know-how of using sexual reproduction in aqua culture;
* introducing breeding techniques for sexual recruits among public Aquaria worldwide
* contribution to conservation of corals on a broad scale
* preservation of the endangered Elkhorn coral Acropora palmata and the
Staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis
* networking between sea aquaria and research institutes
* development of excellent methods for coral reef Elkhorn coral, Curacaoconservation and restoration.
Among the participants, you find coral conservationists, aquarists, scientists and researchers.
The SECORE workshop offer researchers the infrastructure, the tools and know-how, which are necessary to work with coral spawn, coral larvae and primary settled corals.
Public outreach
During the workshop there will be a public evening at the Curacao Sea Aquarium. Lectures to inform the local public about the project and nature conservation in the Caribbean will be given. More information you can find under the press section.
Follow this workshop
There will be a daily updated weblog about the whereabouts of the participants and their work in progress.
See the SECORE website by clicking this link.
SECORE is also on Facebook
The Curacao coral spawning field workshop is organized by SECORE, in collaboration with the Curacao Sea Aquarium, CARMABI, Diveversity and Animal Encounters.
It is the first out of a series, and part of a 3-year Acropora restoration project.
This 3-year project aims to develop new methods of saving endangered corals, using sexual reproduction. Therefore, a coral culture system has been built at the Curacao Sea Aquarium.
It will be the nursery of thousands of coral babies, which will eventually be reintroduced in the reefs in the future.
A student of the Ruhr-University of Bochum (Germany) will do her PhD on this project in the coming 3 years.
Location & time
Curacao harbors some of the last Elkhorn coral ad Staghorn coral populations that are still reproducing. The findings of the upcoming project will help to conserve corals in the Caribbean and around the world.
Coral reef CuracaoThe annual spawning event of endangered Elkhorn coral and Staghorn coral is expected to take place during the workshop. If that indeed happens, a group of international scientists and aquarists will collect eggs and sperm from these corals in the reefs around Curacao.
Goals of the workshop
Main goal of this workshop is of course to collect sperm and eggs and culture new corals from these.
Other goals of this workshop are:
* sharing know-how of using sexual reproduction in aqua culture;
* introducing breeding techniques for sexual recruits among public Aquaria worldwide
* contribution to conservation of corals on a broad scale
* preservation of the endangered Elkhorn coral Acropora palmata and the
Staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis
* networking between sea aquaria and research institutes
* development of excellent methods for coral reef Elkhorn coral, Curacaoconservation and restoration.
Among the participants, you find coral conservationists, aquarists, scientists and researchers.
The SECORE workshop offer researchers the infrastructure, the tools and know-how, which are necessary to work with coral spawn, coral larvae and primary settled corals.
Public outreach
During the workshop there will be a public evening at the Curacao Sea Aquarium. Lectures to inform the local public about the project and nature conservation in the Caribbean will be given. More information you can find under the press section.
Follow this workshop
There will be a daily updated weblog about the whereabouts of the participants and their work in progress.
See the SECORE website by clicking this link.
SECORE is also on Facebook
European ISRS Meeting: Reefs, Science and Society Dec 13-17, 2010
The next European International Society of Reef Studies “Reefs, Science and Society” will be held in Wageningen, The Netherlands, on December 13-17, 2010.
Information can be found at: http://www.isrs2010.org/home/ or by contacting Dr Ronald Osinga of the Wageningen University ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
About the Organizers
Dr. Ronald Osinga is a research scientist at Wageningen University. He has been involved for more than 10 years in the aquaculture of marine invertebrates (corals and sponges) and organised conferences on this topic in 1998 and 2001.
Dr. Jaap Kaandorp (University of Amsterdam) is a leading scientist in the field of "in silico" biology of marine benthic organisms. He published a book about this subject (The Algorithmic Beauty of Corals, Seaweeds and Sponges) and organized a series of annual meetings on Bioinformatics in Amsterdam.
About the Venues
Cinemec is a new, modern venue that includes both conference facilities and cinemas. It hosted already several meetings organized by Wageningen University.
Burgers' Zoo is one of the oldest and largest zoo' s in the Netherlands. It has a brand new, comfortable conference facility located next to the aquarium section, which holds one of the largest indoor live coral displays in the world.
Coral spawning dates 2010
Based on last year's surveys a prediction is now available of expected times and dates that some of the more abundant Caribbean coral species will release the next generation of corals during the annual coral spawning. The dates are only applicable to the Southern Caribbean. Be aware that the coral spawning is becoming more difficult to predict each year and that this schedule of estimated spawning times provides no guarantees. Please report all observations of corals (but also other organisms) spawning to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. To see the 2010-spawning predictions click here.
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Starting September 2010: Masterprogram Limnology & Oceanography at the University of Amsterdam
Water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and sets our planet apart from all other planets known to mankind. These vast amounts of water play an important role in the global climate and are a source of food, minerals, energy, and recreation. Aquatic ecosystems are teeming with organisms, ranging from the tiny phytoplankton and zooplankton to corals, fish and whales. Unfortunately, aquatic ecosystems are also the dumping places for many of society’s wastes and are profoundly affected by global change.To better understand and protect the world’s lakes, seas, and oceans, the University of Amsterdam offers a master program in Limnology and Oceanography, devoted to the biology, chemistry and physics of aquatic ecosystems. This multidisciplinary program is an advanced study focusing on freshwater ecosystems (limnology) as well as on marine ecosystems (oceanography).
Interested?
Visit our website:
http://www.studeren.uva.nl/ma-limnology-oceanography
or contact us via:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Unidentifiable fish species
On the evening of May 30th a fish was caught by local fishermen at a depth of approximately 100 meters. At present no one has any idea what species this fish might be. A picture is shown below and all who know what species this fish is are invited to send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the supposed species name so the information can be shared with the local fishing community.
Thanks in advance.
Update June 3rd 2010: After sending the picture to the Coral-List server (an international internet based information network for coral reef research), it seems that most people seem to agree that this fish is Verilus sordidus. More information on this rare fish species can be found by clicking this link.
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