One day in early April, coral scientists at The Florida Aquarium in Tampa received a surprise when they found a baby coral in one of their tanks. They’d been keeping their eye on a different coral species that was expected to reproduce, but they hadn’t seen any results. The larva indicated that one of the other corals had started spawning instead.
Using special larval collector buckets, the scientists decided to observe the ridged cactus coral, a stony coral in shades of blue, green, and red that look almost peacock-like in photos. They placed it in the buckets overnight and awoke the next morning to find hundreds of larvae inside. The event marked the first time ridged cactus coral has ever reproduced while in human care.
Read the full story at Miami New Times.
Photo courtesy of The Florida Aquarium, via Miami New Times
