Florida Coral Rescue
An unprecedented coral disease event devastated Florida’s reefs between 2014 and 2022, causing widespread mortality in more than 20 Caribbean coral species. The disease, known as stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), is still present on our reefs today but at lower levels because of the now low populations of the susceptible coral species killed by SCTLD during the epidemic phase (when the disease was spreading quickly along Florida’s Coral Reef). SCTLD was first documented near Miami, Florida, and slowly spread throughout the entire reef tract, reaching the Dry Tortugas National Park in 2021, and eventually spreading throughout the Caribbean.
Due to the rapid spread of the disease, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Park Service (NPS), and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), created the Florida Coral Rescue and Propagation Team to conduct rescues of SCTLD susceptible species to preserve their genetic diversity. The Project is led by FWC and NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources in close collaboration with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
The main objectives of the Coral Rescue and Propagation Team are to gene bank or “rescue” corals, holding them in land-based facilities to prevent them from becoming infected; to preserve their genetic diversity; and to propagate (breed) them to utilize their offspring in the recovery of Florida’s Coral Reef. Coral Rescue efforts began in late 2018 by conducting collections of SCTLD-susceptible species via day trips and multi-day live-aboard cruises and developing a public-private partnership with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to gene bank and provide expert long-term care for Rescue corals.
Eight years later, the Team has rescued ~3,000 corals of 20 different species from over 200 reef sites in Florida including the Marquesas Keys and Dry Tortugas National Park. These rescued corals are currently held at 25 land-based holding facilities including AZA accredited aquariums and zoos, research facilities, non-profit organizations and universities, across 14 states. Many of the corals are in breeding programs that are contributing to restoration efforts of Florida’s Coral Reef. Information such as species and collection sites can be viewed on the Coral Rescue - Coral Monitoring Dashboard.
Coral rescue efforts began in September 2018 in Key West, ahead of where the disease was located, when 102 colonies were carefully collected from three reef sites and corals were maintained at temporary holding facilities until long-term land-based facilities were available. Unfortunately, the spread of SCTLD was faster than the ability to conduct day trips out of Key West to collect corals. Therefore, to accelerate the collection of corals from disease-free areas, seven multi-day coral rescue cruises into the Marquesas Keys and the Dry Tortugas were conducted on a live aboard dive vessel, the M/V Makai, with the capacity to collect and maintain up to 500 corals per cruise. Once the collections were completed, corals were staged at temporary holding facilities at the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University until shipment to long-term Coral Rescue Holding facilities across the country.
Any future Florida Coral Rescue collections will now occur within the areas that have been affected by the disease but have returned to lower, background levels of disease prevalence. Focusing on salvage in advance of coastal construction projects, surviving corals may be collected to incorporate potentially resilient genetics into gene-banking and propagation efforts.
The Coral Rescue and Propagation Team acknowledged that one of the largest challenges of developing the Florida Coral Rescue Plan was finding facilities to house and provide high-level care for rescued corals.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has the resources, expertise and professionalism to assist state and federal agencies on this significant conservation challenge. The AZA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation. As part of the larger Florida Coral Rescue and Propagation Project, the AZA Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project is a collaborative partnership of 20 AZA accredited facilities in 14 states, dedicated to bringing hope to Florida’s Coral Reef. Current Rescue facilities located in Florida include The Florida Aquarium’s Coral Conservation and Research Center, Florida Coral Rescue Center (a partnership between SeaWorld Orlando and Disney Conservation), Mote International Gene Bank, Nova Southeastern University, The Reef Institute, SeaWorld Coral Rescue Center, Sea Life Orlando, and Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science. All Coral Rescue holding facilities are managed by the FWC and must meet and maintain the highest standards for the holding and care of Rescue corals. These standards were developed in coordination with the Coral Rescue and Propagation Team, the AZA Husbandry Leadership Team, and the AZA Coral Health Management Advisory Group, and are reflected in Coral Rescue Facility management documents.
Rescue corals were distributed across holding and propagation facilities based on species and genetics for long-term land-based care, and to begin to spawn and contribute to the next generation of Florida’s corals.
Coral Rescue propagation partners are learning to, and succeeding at, propagating corals in land-based facilities. Fifteen species of rescue corals have been successfully spawned and propagated so far, a first for Florida corals. Success in increasing fertilization rates and settlement success of coral larvae has been documented by several Rescue propagation partners. In addition, Rescue offspring have been used for restoration research related to determining the appropriate size and density for effective outplanting design, as well as investigating the impact of fish predation on outplanting success.
The Coral Monitoring Dashboard provides summary information about the rescue effort including: number of corals rescued, the number of different species rescued, and the number of project partners holding corals. The dashboard is updated as collections occur and as corals are distributed to holding facilities.
View the Dashboard: Coral Rescue – Coral Monitoring Dashboard
FAQ
20 species of SCTLD-susceptible corals are included in the Coral Rescue and Propagation Project.
*Seven of the 20 species of Rescue corals are listed as threatened or endangered in the Endangered Species Act.
Lamarck’s sheet coral - Agaricia lamarcki
Boulder brain coral - Colpophyllia natans
Pillar coral - Dendrogyra cylindrus*
Grooved brain coral - Diploria labyrinthiformis
Pineapple coral - Dichocoenia stokesii
Smooth flower coral - Eusmilia fastigiata
Golfball coral - Favia fragum
Spiny flower coral - Mussa angulosa
Yellow pencil coral - Madracis auretenra
Great star coral - Montastraea cavernosa
Knobby cactus coral - Mycetophyllia aliciae*
Rough cactus coral - Mycetophyllia ferox*
Ridged cactus coral - Mycetophyllia lamarckiana*
Maze coral - Meandrina meandrites
Lobed star coral - Orbicella annularis*
Mountainous star coral - Orbicella faveolata*
Boulder star coral - Orbicella franksi*
Knobby brain coral -Pseudodiploria clivosa
Symmetrical brain coral -Pseudodiploria strigosa
Smooth star coral - Solenastrea bournoni
Biosecurity is taken very seriously throughout all stages of the Coral Rescue and Propagation Project.
- During collection only visibly healthy corals were rescued.
- All Rescue corals are only held with other Rescue corals to prevent potential disease exposure and prevent them from being exposed or infested with any non-Florida organism or pathogen.
- Rescue corals have been separated into exposure classes based on the disease zone they were collected from (pre-invasion or endemic). All Rescue corals that have been in holding for over three years are managed as one group. Newly rescued corals held for less than three years are held separately.
- Rescue corals and any co-inhabitants undergo a mandatory 30-day minimum quarantine prior to being mixed with other corals of the same exposure class.
All corals found in Florida are protected by state and federal laws and are only allowed to be collected and held for gene banking and research purposes with appropriate state and federal permits. Maintaining a high level of biosecurity, as well as meeting the requirements for coral handling, care, and reporting, presents significant challenges for entities that are not established aquariums or specialized facilities. We are fortunate to partner with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), universities, and research facilities which provide expert-level care.
Grants obtained by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) supported the collection of Rescue corals and their distribution to long-term care facilities. Coral Rescue partners financially support the costs associated with care and propagation of Rescue corals via their own budgets. Several partners located in Florida have been supported by Florida's Coral Reef Restoration and Recovery Initiative Grants which help sponsor the care of Rescue corals and allows them to invest into equipment and infrastructure to propagate the corals.
Nearly 3,000 corals have been rescued from SCTLD. Most of the corals were rescued from reefs off Key West, the Marquesas Keys, and the Dry Tortugas. Additional corals have been opportunistically collected from Southeast Florida or during coastal construction events and included in the Rescue Project.
To date, no Rescue corals have developed SCTLD-like lesions during their time in holding. While the majority of Rescue corals (~75%) have been successfully maintained over the past eight years, some losses have occurred during long-term holding. Given the duration and complexity of care involved, this was not entirely unexpected. Many of the species included within the Rescue and Propagation Project have never been held or cared for in land-based systems before, and there were many unknowns regarding species-specific care. Great advances in their care, treatment, feeding, and reproduction have been made over the course of the Project, leading to better care and higher survival. Establishing successful water quality, lighting, flow, and feeding requirements for each species was and continues to be a high priority for the expert staff caring for Rescue corals.
Extreme care is taken to collect, transport and care for Rescue corals resulting in little harm to the colonies. Although some bumps and scrapes, and breakage of branches in branching species are expected during the process, most corals fully recover with no long-term negative impacts to their overall health.
SCTLD was an unprecedented event which severely impacted over half of the coral species found in Florida. Many species had extremely high whole colony mortality rates, and in some cases, caused local extirpation of species along the reef tract. Without collections via the Coral Rescue and Propagation Project, reproductively viable populations of SCTLD-susceptible species may have been lost entirely, leaving no source of local genetic diversity to support the recovery of Florida’s coral populations. If left on the reef during the epidemic stages of SCTLD, many corals collected for the Rescue and Propagation Project would have perished. Conservative estimates by FWC indicate that more than 50 million corals were lost due to SCTLD on Florida’s Coral Reef. Rescue corals are also safeguarded from future stressors they would experience in the wild in Florida, such as bleaching events due to extreme temperatures.
Corals were only rescued from the reef if they were between 10-30 cm in diameter, were healthy (>95% live tissue and no active tissue loss), and had growth patterns that facilitated an easier removal from the reef.
To meet the Project’s genetic goals for population recovery, and because so little was known about the genetic diversity of corals prior to Rescue collections, a goal of 200 colonies of each of the 20 species was set to be collected to ensure enough genetic diversity was obtained for a breeding program developed by FWC. To support genetic diversity of Rescue corals in holding, there was a goal to collect 50 genotypes (genetically unique individuals) of each species. Corals were collected from a range of sites to ensure representative colonies of each species were collected, and that enough colonies remained on the reef.
The future goals of the Coral Rescue and Propagation Project include the continued holding, care, and gene banking of Rescue coral broodstock, with a strong focus on propagation. Spawning, rearing, and growing these corals are critical steps in producing a new generation for future outplanting efforts aimed at restoring Florida’s Coral Reef. Ongoing efforts also prioritize advancing our understanding of coral husbandry, care, growth, reproduction, and post-outplant survival.
Coral Rescue Partners
Logos of all the partners currently associated with Coral Rescue, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Sea Grant, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Nova Southeastern University, The Reef Institute, Florida Coral Rescue Center, The Florida Aquarium, Adventure Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium, National Marine Sanctuaries, Mote Marine Laboratory International Coral Gene Bank, SeaWorld Coral Rescue, Columbus Zoo, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Disney's Animal Science and Environment, Blank Park Zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Nashville Zoo, Frost Science Museum, Jenkinson's Aquarium, Denver Zoo, Butterfly Pavilion, SeaLife Orlando Aquarium, SeaLife Michigan, SeaLife San Antonio, SeaLife LEGOLAND California Resort, National Aquarium, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Keys Marine Lab, and North Carolina Aquarium.
Previous Coral Rescue Partners (thank you for your involvement!)
Logos of all the partners previously associated with Coral Rescue, including The Maritime Aquarium, Moody Gardens, Texas State Aquarium, Fort Worth Zoo, Seacoast Science Center, Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, and Mote Marine Laboratory.