Thursday, November 30, 2023
OceanScientist Figures Out How To Accelerate Coral Growth

Scientist Figures Out How To Accelerate Coral Growth

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With coral populations dying off at alarming rates, one scientist has figured out a way to accelerate their growth, potentially giving them a new lease on life.

Marine biologist Dr. Dave Vaughn, who is the coral restoration program manager at the Mote Tropical Research Center in the Florida Keys, said:

“My Eureka moment — or Eureka mistake — was when I broke a coral into tiny pieces. I thought it was going to die and be very stressed. Instead it grew like the dickens.”

Vaughn’s technique is called “micro fragmenting,” and can take a process that lasts from 25 to 75 years for a coral to hit sexual maturity and shrink that time line down to three years.

“It was after that accident that I knew we could restore reefs. . . . If we can understand what turns on the fast growth of tissue in a coral, . . . we might be able to have remedies for tumors or cancer.”

Check out the video below.

Saving Coral Reefs One Coral At A Time

John Liang
John Lianghttps://www.deeperblue.com/
John Liang is the News Editor at DeeperBlue.com. He first got the diving bug while in High School in Cairo, Egypt, where he earned his PADI Open Water Diver certification in the Red Sea off the Sinai Peninsula. Since then, John has dived in a volcanic lake in Guatemala, among white-tipped sharks off the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, and other places including a pool in Las Vegas helping to break the world record for the largest underwater press conference.

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