Florida Pillar Corals are now being spawned in captivity!

[jgvergo]

I have to admit that I did not know what a Florida Pillar Coral was until today

A scientific breakthrough at the Florida Aquarium could save 'America's Great Barrier Reef'

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida, says they've made scientific history as a group of coral has successfully reproduced two days in a row for the first time in a lab setting.

www.cnn.com

 

[little_sardines]

That's awesome!

 

[brandon429]

I always thought they should trust aquarists to mass farm their staghorns and send them back new mass via mail for re seeding the keys. Staghorn sps would grow in a pico reef easy is the bet/going off all other sps they're keeping well in them

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I have to admit that I did not know what a Florida Pillar Coral was until today

A scientific breakthrough at the Florida Aquarium could save 'America's Great Barrier Reef'

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida, says they've made scientific history as a group of coral has successfully reproduced two days in a row for the first time in a lab setting.

www.cnn.com

This is huge i just came here to share the article as well. They use leds too.

 

[Peace River]

I have to admit that I did not know what a Florida Pillar Coral was until today

A scientific breakthrough at the Florida Aquarium could save 'America's Great Barrier Reef'

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida, says they've made scientific history as a group of coral has successfully reproduced two days in a row for the first time in a lab setting.

www.cnn.com

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

 

[PatW]

Pillar coral are pretty cool. Unlike most Caribbean hard corals, their polyps are extended during the day. They are reputed to be quite sensitive. A diver putting their hand on the colony can leave a nearly permanent hand print on the colony. A large coral head looks a bit like a hand pointed up with fingers extending. Colonies an get 10-15’ tall and maybe a bit bigger. I have dived in Roatan, Utila, Turneffe, Cozumel, the FL Keys, Salk Cay, Grand Turk, the BVIs, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, I have seen one large coral head at Little Cayman. And there are three sites at Cayman Brac with about 10 big coral heads among them. So piller coral is rarely seen anymore.

Heck, I rarely see nice stag horn coral colonies and the only place I have seen good elk horn is the south side of Cayman Brac.

Fortunately, the gorgonians are often in very good shape.

 

[WMR]

It’s a start, good news. I agree with @brandon429, let the hobbyists propagate the Atlantic corals & send frags to Fish & Wildlife, DNR, & all other pertinent depts to restablish reefs or existing reefs. We do such an amazing job propagating corals, we’d have their heads spinning