The Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire (RRFB) for the first time recently collected spawn from the critically endangered pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus) and raised young corals through its breeding program.
The young corals will soon be transferred into underwater nurseries, where they will be carefully monitored as they grow before returning to the reef.
Pillar coral populations on Bonaire have declined sharply in recent years due to the spread of SCTLD and consecutive marine heatwaves, leaving only scattered colonies that are often too far apart to reproduce naturally. As the “canary of the reef,” this species is highly sensitive to ocean change and often the first to show signs of stress. Without intervention, pillar coral faces functional extinction on the island — as has already happened in Florida and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
RRFB’s Lead Restoration Technician Cheyenna de Wit says:
“Helping pillar corals reproduce here is more than just a milestone for us — it’s a lifeline for a species that is vanishing from Bonaire’s reefs.”
The recent successful spawn collection underscores the critical role of active coral restoration. While improving water quality and reducing local stressors are essential, they can’t alone save dying species like pillar coral.
Growing research has shown that coral breeding and fragmentation, techniques that underpin the foundation’s work, can give corals a better chance to survive changing ocean conditions. In two recent studies, scientists found that heat tolerance can be passed from parent corals to their offspring, and that young, lab-reared corals show greater resilience to bleaching than wild colonies.
By applying these research-backed techniques at scale, RRFB produces tens of thousands of young corals each year. In addition to pillar coral, their team produced 56,000 staghorn coral larvae last week and raised over 26,000 young grooved brain coral earlier this year.
