TRANSCRIPT
– [Narrator] Nassau groupers are solitary a lot of the yr.
Copy brings them collectively.
Some will journey a whole bunch of miles.
They arrive in December and January when Caribbean waters are coolest.
– [Expert] They begin speaking to one another.
They’ve completely different alerts, completely different languages, or completely different phrases or vowels for the completely different behaviors that they conduct.
Solely after they mixture to spawn.
– [Narrator] They additionally talk with stylized actions and shifting patterns on their pores and skin.
– They give the impression of being cool already.
They obtained their stripes and every little thing, however when it is getting near spawning, they’re like attempting on completely different outfits.
Some flip white, some flip black.
– [Narrator] Extra groupers arrive.
The refrain swells in quantity.
(groupers droning) Some wait on the ocean ground, conserving their power.
– [Expert] They want to synchronize to one or two nights.
Everyone has to have their eggs and their sperm prepared for that second.
They’re speaking.
Are we able to spawn?
Do you assume we will spawn now?
– [Narrator] As their numbers develop, they rise from the ocean ground every night as if rehearsing.
As the total moon approaches, the performances change into extra refined.
– The place the true enjoyable is, is within the courtship previous to spawning.
– [Expert 2] Every has their personal suite of behaviors and sounds that each one come collectively into this courtship dance.
– [Narrator] If they’re prepared, they modify into matching costumes.
– As you get nearer to spawning, all of them select this tuxedo it seems wish to me, black, black, black with a bar over the eye and a white stomach.
We name it bi-color part.
It is like a vaudeville act.
Males preventing over females, making sounds at one another.
– [Narrator] Males wrestle across the females, the noise builds, however evening after evening, they maintain again.
Then one evening, the temperature is correct.
The moonlight is correct.
Most significantly, there’s a important mass of fish.
The refrain reaches a crescendo.
(groupers droning) Then, silence.
Spawning has begun.