Their sexual reproduction only happens once a year, around the time of the full moon in August or early September. The coral releases approximately 500,000 eggs during this mass spawning. However, fish eat considerable numbers of the eggs and others drift down to the ocean floor where they die. Alarmingly, often only one egg per coral will survive and grow. But coral can also reproduce asexually.
Asexual reproduction is the fragmenting of coral by breaking a piece away.
At AMT, Alan and his team endeavor to recreate the marine environment that is ideal for raising corals. These conditions include appropriate temperature, water salinity and clarity. The facility is designed for 500 tanks which each contain 250 gallons of seawater. Several hundred corals can be raised in each tank. After a few months, many of the cultivated pieces become the brood stock themselves.