A fluorescent green flower anemone (Epicystis crucifer) releases sperm into the water column at the Coral Morphologic lab.

On May 24th we observed this fluorescent green flower anemone (Epicystis crucifer) spawning in our lab, and managed to film the event. The anemone continued to release sperm for nearly 30 minutes, while several other nearby flower anemones released significantly smaller amounts of gametes. This was the second time we have witnessed a flower anemone spawning event at our lab this spring. We first observed a synchronous spawn of more than a dozen anemones in an outdoor aquaculture system that receives natural sunlight on April 12th. After the jump are photos of anemones spawning during this event.

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