Coral spawning occurs when multiple corals release their gametes at the same moment. The underwater love fests are triggered by the moon, temperature, and mood music (Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe). All this sexual activity underwater can trigger other organisms to join in. Basically little colored balls consisting of both sperm and eggs, wrapped in a mucus, detach and float away. These love packets eventually break apart due to water movement. Now the real action happens were sperm and eggs seek each other out. When a match occurs, the development of the larvae ensues that hangs in the water column for a few weeks before settling on the seafloor.
More coral porn below the fold...
Another video here (best of bunch)
And here
A lot more here
And here
More like this
This is the second in a series of five referenced articles about shared characteristics between deep and shallow water corals
This just out from NOAA:
Coral is a polyphyletic term for polypoid animals in the cnidarian classes Anthozoa and Hydrozoa that secrete either 1) a black, horn like proteinaceous axis or 2) carbonate skeletal material in the form of either a) continuous skeleton or b) an assemblage of microscopic, individual sclerites (Ca
"when a match occurs"
Sounds like the coral version of 'The Dating Game'!