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Updated Saturday, March 20, 2010 12:18 am TWN, CNA



	Collective reproduction of Toxopneustes pileolus (喇叭毒棘海膽), a poisonous sea urchin species, is shown in the picture. The Houbi Lake in Kenting has seen a rare phenomenon of massive collective reproduction of sea urchin after seven years of conservation efforts, which amazed Chao Shi-min, a marine scientist who has been researching sea urchin for 25 years. (CNA) Enlarge Photo

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Mass sea urchin reproduction amazes scientists

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A marine reserve area in Kenting National Park has seen the steady recovery of its sea urchin population after years of conservation efforts, culminating recently in a period of mass collective reproduction.

Dr. Chao Shi-min, chief of the sea urchin conservation area that the Kenting National Park Headquarters established in the Houbihu Marine Resource Conservation Area, said it was the first time in his 25 years of researching sea urchins that he has seen such massive collective reproduction, a phenomenon he said was indescribable.

Chao and his team on Friday shared photos and video taken of extended families of sea urchins and their process of reproduction.

Marine scientists from Taiwan and abroad phoned the park headquarters throughout the day wanting to learn more about the details of the small sea creatures' reproduction history.

From the beginning of March, Chao and his team found that more than three sea urchin species, including the poisonous Toxopneustes pileolus, more commonly known as the flower urchin, yielded spermatozoa and eggs en masse in a collective manner.

“It was like numerous small volcanoes erupting at the same time, turning the seabed into a misty white world, “ Chao said.

However, marine scientists still do not know what caused the sea urchins to reproduce in this way, said Chao, a researcher with the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung.

Of the 15 species that have flourished in the Houbihu reserve — located along the inner coast of the peninsula that has Maobitou Park at its tip — the flower urchin is the biggest with a diameter reaching 20 centimeters. It is seldom seen elsewhere in waters around Taiwan.

The coral reef-dwelling sea urchin around Taiwan had nearly become extinct over the past few decades, the result of excessive poaching to feed the stomachs of sea urchin lovers in Taiwan and Japan.

Their population has steadily grown in Taiwan over the past seven years since the sea urchin reserve area was established in the Houbihu lagoon in 2003, Chao said.

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