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Kenting coral spawning could be
delayed a month
Staff Writer, with CNA
Coral spawns in the sea off
Kenting National Park yesterday.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hui, Taipei Times
The coral reefs around Kenting National
Park could delay spawning for another month this year, an official from the
Taiwanese Coral Reef Society said.
Tsai Yung-chun (½²¥Ã¬K) said he dived in the area on Sunday night to observe the
spawning of the coral and found that only a few had spawned.
The spawning season of the park¡¦s coral has been delayed for the third
consecutive year because of weather changes, Tsai said.
Tsai¡¦s records for the past two decades showed the coral reefs in the park
generally spawn between March 20 and March 24 on the lunar calendar (April 22 to
April 26 this year).
This year, the coral began to spawn eggs on April 23 and Tsai had expected to
see large amount of eggs laid on Sunday night, but in the end only three kinds
of coral had spawned a small amount of eggs.
¡§Including the coral that had small amount of spawning Sunday night, only five
kinds of coral have spawned so far,¡¨ he said.
There are more than 400 kinds of coral in the park¡¦s waters and Tsai had
previously recorded a large amount of egg laying, with more than 30 varieties of
corals spawning simultaneously.
Tsai said that if the corals did not spawn around March 20 on the lunar
calendar, they would do so one month later.
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