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Some corals change sex each year so they can find mates

Nearly three-quarters of hammer coral colonies annually alternate between male and female. They are the only animal species known to undergo this change on such a regular schedule

By Jake Buehler

10 January 2024

Hammer coral, also known as anchor coral, in Lembeh Strait in Indonesia

Marli Wakeling/Alamy

When hammer coral says, 鈥渘ew year, new me鈥, it truly means it: many colonies of the coral species change their sex annually. The pattern seems to be a first among animals.

In 2011, at the National Taiwan Ocean University and his colleagues were surveying hammer corals (Fimbriaphyllia ancora) in the tropical West Pacific Ocean. The researchers discovered that many of the colonies had changed sex since the previous year.

At…

Article amended on 12 January 2024

We have corrected the number of hammer coral colonies that didn't change sex over the course of the study

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