Quickies

Coral Spawning Night Dives with Silverswift

It’s been described as “sex on the reef” and Silverswift will once again be conducting Coral Spawning Night Dives for certified divers to experience this unique natural annual phenomenon, dates to be confirmed.

When will it occur this year? The best advice from our Marine Biologist experts is this year’s event will occur either 3-5 November, however if water temperatures are not consistently warm enough, the best prediction will be 3-5 December.

Predicting when this will occur is not an exact science but does rely on several environmental cues. The ocean temperature needs to be 26 degrees celcius or above for the month before for the gametes to mature. Secondly, they will generally reproduce 4 to 6 nights after the full moon in November or December when there is little tidal movement. Thirdly, it will generally be about 2-3 hours after the sun sets, because it’s nice and romantic(!), but more importantly most of the plankton feeders will be asleep, giving the eggs more time to settle to the relative safety of the reef.

For more information on Coral Spawning night dives with Silverswift visit here: www.silverseries.com.au/nightdives