Image

The Reef and the Moon

Gliding over a Bermudan coral reef in October 2010, WHOI scientist Anne Cohen (center) and post-doctoral investigator Neal Cantin (left) were followed by a BBC cameraman. The group was filming a segment for a BBC documentary called “Do We Really Need the Moon?” focusing on the influence of the moon on corals and coral reefs. They were attempting to describe how coral feeding and spawning patterns are strongly linked with lunar cycles, as well as showing the microscopic structures in coral skeleton that are formed during a full moon.(Photo by Alex Chequer, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences)