coral spawn???

[Dignity]

Now I thought that coral spawned on the full moon but in the last few days there has been heaps of it floating around, is it because of climate change or is it sewerage from ships disguised as coral spawn or is it something else altogether it certainly smells like coral spawn.

[ifishcq1]

a few days after the full moon around 21st-23rd November this year
most of what we get is scum as the reef purges itself when water temp is over 25C

cheers

[Spiderpig]

I was told by a local researcher last year that it is actually not coral spawn. They said it was actually an algae.

[cuzzamundi]

Could be Trichodesium. That's a typical algal bloom. Leaves trails of brown shit in about the top five metres of the water column, and stinks accordingly.

Cuzza

[Dan5]

Yep if it's that brown smelly stuff it's algae.........Lots of people think its coral spawn.

Dan

[Daintreeboy]

My bet without seeing pictures is that it is Trichodesmium. We see it all the time up this way and it is mistaken for Coral Spawn often.

[ifishcq1]

yeah you are all right but the coral does spawn in Nov and it does look similar to reef scum/algea except it starts out orange looking where the algea is green and stinks almost straight away
like I said the reef gets rid of algea/scum at 25degrees waterv temp or more

[Daintreeboy]

Yes but Trichidesmium is an orange brown colour which is why it is also referred to as sea sawdust. Without photos I can't say for sure but its a possibility.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichodesmium

[Crunchy]

Actually it's Fukishima radiation

[Dignity]

Thanks guys, is this Trichidesmium/algae becoming more common, maybe my memory is bad but 10 years ago I don't recall seeing much of it at all.

[cuzzamundi]

Yeah, Dignity - seems to be the case. I reckon it's due to run off pollutants from urban development. Much more crap entering our waters, now. They reckon certain pollutants and fertilizers can be catalysts for the blooms.

Cuzza