CORAL Excerpt – Project Coral: Inducing Predictable Broadcast Spawning of Stony Corals In Captivity

Project Coral – By Jamie Craggs | Coral Magazine, March/April 2014 The following excerpt is a selection from “Project Coral” by Jamie Craggs. Get it now in the March/April 2014 issue of CORAL Magazine Whilst there have been captive coral spawning events in a few public aquariums and a small number of home aquariums around the world, they have always been unplanned, incidental events, often catching the onlooker by surprise. So the challenge of spawning corals in a controlled, predictable way is considerable and presents some major obstacles. Despite this, I’ve always felt it could be achieved if the approach was right. When we attempt to breed aquarium animals, the method is the same in principle. First we need to research the individual environmental and/or nutritional components that trigger a species to reproduce in the wild; then, using that knowledge, we replicate these conditions in our aquariums. Surely, inducing broadcast corals like Acropora to spawn in captivity should be no different, even if their environmental cues and triggers are more elusive to define

ORA’s Latest Coral Cultivar – ORAnge Setosa (Montipora)

ORAnge Setosa – Montipora setosa cultivar from ORA (Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums) ORA’s cultured corals have maintained and ever-growing demand, and the latest introduction surely will be added to the drool-worthy list. It should come as no surprise that while there is a seemingly endless array of uniquely-named coral cultivars available from just as many aquaculturists, few (if any) rival the level of notoriety that an ORA coral can achieve. I believe, this is in large part due to the way ORA goes about selecting corals for commercial-scale culture. In some cases, such as the ORA Red Goniopora (see Rethinking Goniopora in the May/June 2011 Issue of CORAL Magazine), it can take a few years, to the better part of a decade, to bring a new coral into cultivation and establish enough broodstock colonies to provide a stable, ongoing supply of a genetically unique cultivar. Only the corals determined to be the most agreeable to captive-life and cultivation are ultimately selected for culture and sale. Perhaps it is a combination of rigorous quarantine, long term captive observation, and the patience to build up a suitable quantity of inventory, that explains just why an ORA coral introduction can truly be considered a “new product”, and not simply just a passing fad or a one-off piece of eye candy. Montiporas, particularly the non-encrusting types, continue to impress me as perhaps some of the most ideal SPS corals for beginners. By the same token, I believe this relative ease of care causes them to be overlooked by more advanced hobbyists who focus mostly on Acorporids- anyone out there have a Montipora-only reef tank?

CORAL Video & Highlights: Coral Reef Resilience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHcsg3dnass Transcript of RESILIENCE, narrated by Bruce Carlson, Ph.D. Few places on earth captivate our sense of wonder as much as coral reefs. But how stable and enduring are coral reefs? Violent tropical storms frequently destroy fragile coral skeletons, but broken branches quickly sprout new growth. Coral reefs are resilient and adapted to recover from these natural events, but what happens when humans tip the balance? Let me show you two examples in Fiji. For centuries Fijians have harvested marinelife without serious harm to their reefs, but near the capital city of Suva there are may more people fishing. Let’s look more closely at this reef