Coral Reefs News

March 29, 2025

Top Headlines

Coral Diseases and Water Quality Play a Key Role for Coral Restoration and Survival Efforts

Mar. 26, 2025 — Coral diseases, particularly in the Caribbean, have caused major declines in coral populations, especially affecting staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (A. palmata) corals, which play a ...

Red Coral Colonies Survive a Decade After Being Transplanted in the Medes Islands

Mar. 18, 2025 — The red coral colonies that were transplanted a decade ago on the seabed of the Medes Islands have survived successfully. They are very similar to the original communities and have contributed to the ...

'Fishial' Recognition: Neural Network Identifies Coral Reef Sounds

Mar. 11, 2025 — Researchers combine acoustic monitoring with a neural network to identify fish activity on coral reefs by sound. They trained the network to sort through the deluge of acoustic data automatically, analyzing audio recordings in real time. Their ...

Adaptability of Some Coral Reef Fish to Rising Temperatures

Mar. 6, 2025 — Researchers have found that reef fish from the Arabian Gulf, the world's hottest sea, exhibit a higher tolerance to temperature fluctuations compared to those from more thermally stable coral reefs. However, the Arabian Gulf hosts fewer fish species ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:19pm EDT

Heat-Stressed Reefs May Benefit from Coral-Dwelling Crabs

Feb. 24, 2025 — Crab behavior suggestive of wound-tending may improve coral tolerance to heat ...

10 New Sponge Species Near Hawaii

Feb. 20, 2025 — Biologists, using a technique that explores both genes and structural characteristics, have introduced 10 new species of marine sponge. Despite their distinction as one of Earth's oldest lifeforms ...

Can Artificial Intelligence Save the Great Barrier Reef?

Feb. 12, 2025 — Researchers are designing a global real-time monitoring system to help save the world's coral reefs from further decline, primarily due to bleaching caused by global ...

New Technology Lights Way for Accelerating Coral Reef Restoration

Feb. 6, 2025 — Scientists have developed a novel tool designed to protect and conserve coral reefs by providing them with an abundance of feeding ...

Fishing and Conserving in Great Barrier Reef's Marine Reserves

Feb. 5, 2025 — A new study of the Great Barrier Reef has revealed that the network of no-take marine reserves supplies nearly half of the region's coral trout fishery ...

How Tiny Algae Shaped the Evolution of Giant Clams

Jan. 27, 2025 — New research reveals how resident algae altered the genome of these fabled sea creatures, allowing them to access more ...

Cycle of Coral Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef Now at 'Catastrophic' Levels

Jan. 21, 2025 — Marine scientists highlights the complex interplay between heat stress, disease onset and coral mortality. They found that 66 percent of the colonies ...

Great Barrier Reef Fish Evidence Suggests Shifts in Major Global Biodiversity Patterns

Jan. 14, 2025 — Life on the Great Barrier Reef is undergoing big changes in the face of climate change and other human-caused pressures, a new study reveals. From ...

Study Highlights Key Factors for Successful Restoration of Elkhorn Coral Colonies

Jan. 10, 2025 — To help rare elkhorn corals survive in Florida waters, coral researchers should place them in shallow ocean locations with fast currents, scientists ...

Coral Reef Nightlife Becomes More Predatory With Artificial Light

Dec. 18, 2024 — Artificial light can wake sleeping fish and attract predators, changing nighttime coral reef communities, according to new research using novel underwater infrared ...

New Study Highlights the Correlation Between Live Corals and Fishing Yields

Dec. 19, 2024 — A new study examines the correlation between fish yield and live coral habitats. Researchers analyzed the yields of nine fisheries dependent on Australia's Great Barrier Reef from 2016 to 2020. ...

Corals Depend on Near Neighbors to Reproduce

Dec. 16, 2024 — A new study reveals corals must be within only a few meters of each other to successfully reproduce, leaving them vulnerable in a warming ...

How Helicopter Parenting Protects Baby Reef Fish

Dec. 12, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a rare example of 'great fish parenting' with a common coral reef species found to actively protect their young by eating ...

Coral Adaptation Unlikely to Keep Pace With Global Warming

Nov. 28, 2024 — Coral adaptation to ocean warming and marine heatwaves will likely be overwhelmed without rapid reductions of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an international team of ...

Research Highlights the Pressures Human Activities Place on Tropical Marine Ecosystems

Nov. 20, 2024 — The tropical coastlines of Southeast Asia are home to some of the most important and biodiverse marine ecosystems on the planet. But as well as being essential to communities along these coastlines, ...

Young Coral Use Metabolic Tricks to Resist Bleaching

Nov. 12, 2024 — Coral larvae reduce their metabolism and increase nitrogen uptake to resist bleaching in high temperatures, according to a new ...

New Genetic Web Tool to Help Restore Climate-Resilient Marine Ecosystems

Oct. 30, 2024 — In the face of increased human pressures and climate change, a team of scientists have launched a new online tool to assist marine managers and restoration experts to bolster the resilience of marine ...

Researchers Use the Sounds of Healthy Coral Reefs to Encourage Growth of a New Species of Coral Larvae

Oct. 23, 2024 — Healthy coral reefs echo with a chorus of grunts and purrs from fish feeding, looking for mates, or defending their territories, underscored by the persistent crackling of snapping shrimp. Larval ...

Symbiosis in Ancient Corals

Oct. 23, 2024 — A research team has used nitrogen isotope analysis to demonstrate that 385 million years old corals from the Eifel and Sauerland regions had symbionts. This finding represents the earliest evidence ...

Better Ocean Connectivity Boosts Reef Fish Populations

Oct. 18, 2024 — A new study has found that oceanographic connectivity (the movement and exchange of water between different parts of the ocean) is a key influence for fish abundance across the Western Indian Ocean ...

Scientists Have Successfully Bred Corals to Improve Their Heat Tolerance

Oct. 14, 2024 — A new study has shown that selective breeding can lead to a modest rise in coral heat tolerance. The study documents the world s first effort to selectively breed adult corals for enhanced heat ...

Severe Cold-Water Bleaching and Mortality of Deep-Water Reef Observed in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Oct. 11, 2024 — New study documents a severe coral bleaching event occurring in a deep coral reef that resulted in high rates of coral mortality. Unlike many bleaching events, this was driven by the presence of ...

Plenty More Fish in the Sea? Environmental Protections Account for Around 10 Percent of Fish Stocks on Coral Reefs

Oct. 7, 2024 — New research shows that international conservation efforts account for approximately 10 percent of fish stocks on coral ...

Improved Water Quality Offsets in Growing Cities Could Protect Reef

Oct. 3, 2024 — New research shows how growing Queensland regions can learn from biodiversity and carbon offsetting efforts to better meet water quality ...

Coral Reef Destruction a Threat to Human Rights

Sep. 30, 2024 — A human rights-based approach to coral reef protection could ensure governments are held to account for safeguarding marine ...

Dead Coral Skeletons Hinder Reef Regeneration by Sheltering Seaweed

Sep. 26, 2024 — The structural complexity of coral reefs creates a vibrant underwater city populated by a diverse assortment of characters. Ironically, this same complexity can impede coral recovery after ...

Ancient Reef-Builders Dodged Extinction -- At Least Temporarily

Sep. 25, 2024 — Scientists discovered that ancient reef-building stromatoporoids survived the Late Devonian extinction, contrary to previous beliefs, and continued to thrive. The findings reveal how these organisms ...

Humbug Damselfish Use 'Motion Dazzle' to Evade Predators

Sep. 25, 2024 — New research reveals how small coral-reef dwelling humbug damselfish use 'motion dazzle' and adaptive behaviors to confuse potential ...

Deeper Corals May Help Shallow Reefs Recover in the Florida Keys

Sep. 23, 2024 — Using blushing coral star and genomic DNA analyses, researchers have uncovered vital links between coral populations at varying depths. They identified four distinct genetic lineages, finding strong ...

How Remarkable Diversity in Heat Tolerance Can Help Protect Coral Reefs

Sep. 23, 2024 — New research has found previously undocumented variation in coral heat tolerance on the Great Barrier Reef, giving hope that corals' own genetic resources may hold the key for us to help in its ...