Little was known of zooxanthellate coral reproduction in the eastern Pacific until studies were initiated following large scale coral mortality caused by the 1982–83 El Niño-sea warming disturbance. Before this El Niño event, it was generally considered that eastern Pacific corals were relatively sterile, capable of only slow recovery following disturbances; population replenishment depended on long-distance dispersal of reproductive propagules from across the eastern Pacific barrier. Three decades of research in Panama, Costa Rica, and the Galápagos Islands, employing histological methods and field observations, have demonstrated that 13 species are broadcast spawners with peak reproductive activity in the warm, wet season when equatorial areas are under the influence of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Most coral species exhibit high fecundity and some level of reproductive activity throughout the year, with gonadal development or spawning reduced in the dry, upwelling season. Reproduction also occurs in some species during weak and mild El Niño warming. Broadcast spawning species release gametes at or a few days after the full moon, but mass (simultaneous) species spawning events were not observed. Asexual fragmentation, a result of internal (e.g., boring sponges and date mussels) and external (e.g., corallivores and benthic fish invertivores) bioerosionAsexual reproductionbioerosion effects is prominent in the eastern Pacific. Both sexual (gamete production) and asexual reproduction (colony fragmentation) play essential roles in population recovery and reef growth. The appearance of extra-regional Indo-Pacific species (e.g., cnidarians, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and fishes) after strong El Niño events is evidence of the influx of easterly moving warm water and long-distance dispersal, but not necessary for coral reef recovery that is self-sustaining.