‘Test-tube coral babies’ may help restore a tract of reef ravaged by a 1984 ship grounding in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, University of Miami marine science researchers believe. With this hope, they are collecting eggs and sperm of corals this week – the coral spawning period.
Researchers gather spawn in cone-shaped, tent collectors, which are anchored over portions of the coral reef off Key Largo. The spawn is then blended in jars and the portion that fertilizes is transported to a field laboratory.
Researchers will be installing fine mesh enclosure tents around limestone-based, artificial reefs, placing free-swimming larvae inside with the hope that the larvae will attach to the reefs and mature into polyps (initial building blocks for a coral colony).
