Coral babies head to Florida Keys to help restore dying reefs

Hope on the way to the Florida Keys reef

Around 1,050 coral babies spawned and raised at The Florida Aquarium are on their way to the Florida Keys, where they'll be planted on the reef or nurtured in nurseries.

KEY WEST, Fla. – More than 1,000 young corals raised at Tampa’s Florida aquarium are on their way to the Florida Keys, offering a potential lifeline to the imperiled coral reef system.

The Florida Aquarium’s Coral Conservation team said it is transporting approximately 1,050 coral juveniles, born in either 2022 or 2023, to the Keys, where they will either be planted on a reef or placed in conservation nurseries.

The goal of the effort is to help revitalize the coral reef system, which has been devastated by recent marine heat waves.

"The summer of 2023 was devastating to Florida’s elkhorn coral population," said Keri O’Neil, director of the Aquarium’s Coral Conservation Program. "The coral juveniles we are transferring today are made up of many new mother and father combinations that we hope will be more resilient to future stressors. Without human intervention, these parent corals would not be able to breed due to the extent of the loss."

The parent colonies of these coral babies were originally taken from the Florida Coral Reef and brought to The Florida Aquarium prior to the 2023 mass bleaching event.

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Marine experts say that when water temperatures get too warm, algae produce toxins that are eventually expelled by the coral.

Thermal stress begins when water temperatures reach the upper 80s, but in some areas - especially around the Keys - temperatures of 90 degrees or warmer are not uncommon.

A survey conducted by the International Coral Reef Initiative estimated that global bleaching events impacted approximately 84% of coral reefs in 2023 and 2024.

"2023 was a really devastating year for elkhorn coral. There are only about 37 left on Florida's Coral Reef, so we really hope that these babies will teach us something about which corals are able to survive through heat waves," said O’Neil. "This coral transfer gives us hope that we can start to rebuild an elkhorn coral population that may be stronger and have a better chance to survive in the future."

Florida Coral Reef map

(NOAA)

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Once at the Keys Marine Laboratory, the corals will be slowly acclimated to the environment before being distributed to local restoration partners.

"We’re just really excited to see them finally go off to the ocean and have a chance to help rebuild Florida’s Coral Reef," O’Neil stated.

Data collected through the process will guide future breeding efforts and possibly identify which coral offspring are most likely to survive.