THE MYSTERY OF MUCUS!
By Rebecca Campbell Gibbel, MS, DVM WHAT GOOD IS SLIME? For many marine animals, mucus is an essential part of their lives, providing a protective barrier. Clownfish have a mucous coating on the surface of their skin, gills and gut that is three to four times thicker than other similarly sized fish....
A sea cucumber a day keeps the coral doctor away
By Carly E. Karrick Do you think an apple a day keeps the doctor away? What about a cucumber, or maybe even a sea cucumber? Sea cucumbers are animals related to sea stars that filter coral reef sediment, which is the solid material on the bottom of a reef. They have...
Bleaching without witnesses: the history of coral bleaching in South Atlantic reefs
By Thomas Banha For a long time, Brazilian reefs were overlooked in global coral bleaching assessments. This year, two studies reconstructing the history of coral bleaching in Brazil were published just two days apart. Hopefully, this marks a turning point for our reefs helping to put South Atlantic corals in the...
Cladocopium thermophilum: A powerhouse of thermal tolerance
By Anna Fiesinger Coral reefs face an existential threat from rising ocean temperatures, but one tiny alga is rewriting the rules of survival. Cladocopium thermophilum, a symbiotic alga found in the Persian Arabian Gulf’s extreme environment, has emerged as a critical player in the Gulf’s coral resilience. This microbe’s extraordinary ability...
A crab-tastic mutualism
By Daniela Restrepo Galeano Corals are known for their mutualistic relationship with tiny algae that live within coral tissue cells. But this is only one of the multiple collaborations that corals maintain. Mutualism with animals like crabs is less well known and less commonly studied. Nonetheless, crabs have shown to benefit...
Viruses, bacteria, and coral, oh my!
Written by Carly E. Karrick Teamwork makes the dream work, especially when that dream is building a coral reef. Corals that build reefs have a lot of microbes that live in and on them. These microbes include everything from algae, to bacteria, to viruses [1]. Recent studies are beginning to explore...
Raising Corals Ex Situ: A Glimpse of the Coral Nursery of Puerto Rico
by Rachel G. Jordan In the heart of tropical Puerto Rico, a new coral nursery prepares to break ground. But in order to fully appreciate this event, we must dive into a clearer understanding of what coral nurseries are and how they function. As coral reefs around the world face a...
CIGUATERA AND LIONFISH- Double Trouble
By Rebecca Campbell Gibbel Figure 1: An example of Pterois volitans, the red lionfish. 93% of the invasive lionfish in the Caribbean are P. volitans, and 7% are the similar P. miles, the aptly named devil firefish. WHAT ARE LIONFISH? Like its terrestrial namesake, the lionfish invokes fear and admiration. For the multitude...
