Good morning all, today I have a coral nursery or coral Christmas tree for you that I photographed near the Substation but to the west a little ways. This is a super cool coral restoration project being done by the Curacao Coral Restoration Foundation.

What you’re looking at is baby Staghorn corals that are almost ready to be taken out to the reef and “planted” if you will in hopes of making new coral colonies. This species of coral is one of the many that are now on the critically endangered list!

Coral Restoration Foundation Curacao successfully set up the first coral nursery on Curacao between May 19th and May 24th. The initial set up consists of 10 “trees” located on the Stella Maris house reef of Ocean Encounters and Lions Dive and Beach Resort.

These trees will provide a safe nurturing environment for fragments of Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) until they are ready to restore our reefs.
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