While sampling some corals for a study on the reproduction of Red Sea corals, I encountered a new coral species. I was at first extremely confused, not understanding why I was not able to identify it following existing identification keys. But after consulting some coral taxonomy specialists, I realised I was confronted to a new species and had the unique opportunity to describe and name it. The coral in question was from the genus Cyphastrea, a group that comprises mostly massive/encrusting coral colonies with small and round corallites. But unlike other described species, its septal arrangement summed up to eight septa, instead of the 6, 10, or 12 septa per corallite. Left: part of a Cyphastrea kausti colony on a reef in the central Red Sea. Centre: skeleton of C. kausti, showing the 8 septa arrangement. Right: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a corallite from C. kausti. Let me explain: each corallite (skeleton base that supports each coral polyp) comprises a species-specific number of septa that can be compared to the spokes of a bicycle wheel (with only the primary septa reaching the centre of the corallite). This means that depending on the number of primary septa visible (those that get the closest to the centre of the corallite), the coral can be accurately identified to a species (or down to a couple of species). Anyway, the coral I had sampled had eight septa. And so it needed to be described as a new species. I called it "Cyphastrea kausti", naming the coral after the university that gave me my PhD education and degree: the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. reference: Bouwmeester J, Benzoni F, Baird AH, Berumen ML (2015) Cyphastrea kausti sp. n. (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Scleractinia), a new species of reef coral from the Red Sea. ZooKeys 496:1-13 doi:10.3897/zookeys.496.9433
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Monday 16th April 2011, one of the most exciting dives of my life. I knew most of the branching Acropora corals had mature eggs that I expected would be released some time after sunset, around the full moon period. I did not know exactly which night that would be, so I started night diving two days before the full moon. And that is when most of them spawned (I counted 43 colonies from 10 Acropora species). I was surrounded by pink bundles of egg and sperm that were slowly floating up to the surface. It looked like it was snowing, but upside down, and pink. reference: Bouwmeester J, Khalil MT, De La Torre P, Berumen ML (2011) Synchronous spawning of Acropora in the Red Sea. Coral Reefs 30:1011-1011 doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0796-5
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