Coral, fish and prawn larvae


Figure 14 : Three-dimensional view of the bathymetry of Bowden Reef, Great Barrier Reef. Maximum depth of water is about 50m. The reef is 6 km long and has a well-developed reef flat to the east and a lagoon to the west. The lagoon is open to the west and has many coral outcrops scattered throughout. The pins indicate measurement sites.
Anim 19 : Animation of the field data showing the distribution (expressed in number of coral larvae collected in a plankton net tow) of coral larvae at sites around Bowden Reef. Daily values are shown on a daily basis starting just before mass spawing of the coral. At each site, the bars to the left and right indicate the number at the surface and at 6m depth. Each bar comprises 2 bars one on top of the other, the bottom bar is the mean value from three samples, and the top bar the standard deviation. The data were from Oliver et al. (1992).
Figure 15 : Photograph of a coral slick about 12hours after mass spawning when the eggs are still buoyant and float at the surface.
Anim 20 : Daily catches in light traps of fish larvae around Bowden Reef for a species believed able to sustain high swimming speeds. The field data were kindly provided by Peter Doherty.
Anim 21 : Daily catches in light traps of fish larvae around Bowden Reef for a species believed able to sustain only low swimming speeds. The field data were kindly provided by Peter Doherty.
Anim 22 : Monthly values of penaeid larvae at sites in mangrove-fringed coastal waters of Klang Strait Malaysia. The data were kindly provided by Ving Chin Chong.
Anim 23 : Animation of the predicted coral egg and larvae plume around Bowden Reef, Great Barrier Reef, after mass spawning at time 0. Note the high patchiness in the plume.
Figure 16 : Snapshot of the predicted flow field (arrows) around Bowden Reef, the predicted egg plume (colour) and at the same time the observations at two sites (bars over the pins). In this case the location of the patches is correctly predicted. This is not always the case.
Anim 24 : Animation of the predicted plume of prawn larvae in mangrove-fringed coastal waters of Klang Strait over a spring-neap tidal cycle.
Anim 25 : Animation of the predicted plume of fish larvae coming from upstream and meeting Bowden Reef. The fish larvae are assumed to be moving passively with the water currents.
Anim 26 : Animation of the predicted plume of fish larvae coming from upstream and meeting Bowden Reef. The fish larvae are assumed to be moving with the water currents while at the same time swimming towards the reef at 0.05 ms-1 when they are within 3km of the coral.


[ Main Menu ]