Coral Morphologic

We are happy to announce the publication of a new research paper by University of Miami coral scientist Dr. Allyson DeMerlis in collaboration with Coral Morphologic. This paper studied the genetic changes staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis aka ACER) underwent when transplanted from an offshore nursery to the inshore urban habitat at the Coral City Camera in PortMiami. Typically, staghorn corals are grown for restoration in offshore hanging ‘tree nurseries’ under stable, ideal water conditions. However, the reefs most in need of restoration are typically inshore of these nurseries and/or have suffered coral mortality due to deteriorating water quality. Understanding how endangered staghorn corals adapt to less-than-ideal conditions is the first step towards selecting strains that can survive long-term and restore Florida’s reefs. The paper, titled ‘Transcriptomic response of Acropora cervicornis following transplantation to a marginal, nearshore environment’ was published in the research journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

The Coral City Camera site at PortMiami offers an ideal location to study and monitor experimental coral transplants from offshore. By transplanting nursery-grown Acropora cervicornis into the highly urbanized, marginal habitat of the Port of Miami, Dermerlis’ research explores the frontier of urban coral resilience. Four months after outplanting, these staghorn corals demonstrated an impressive 92% survivorship. Despite facing greater thermal extremes and the dynamic stressors of a man-made waterway, the corals successfully persisted. This proves that the city’s coastal edges can serve as a vital real world laboratory for testing the acclimatization capacity of reef-building corals.

The secret to the staghorns’ survival appears to lie deep within their molecular biology. The transcriptomic data reveals that these urban outplants underwent a massive genetic shift, significantly upregulating 961 host and symbiont genes compared to their offshore nursery counterparts. The corals achieved this by maintaining a sustained activation of environmental stress response and innate immunity pathways, actively synthesizing heat shock proteins, managing unfolded proteins, and boosting cellular defense mechanisms. This persistent genetic plasticity suggests that they are actively acclimatizing to their novel environment. Ultimately, this research underscores that the future of marine conservation depends on leveraging this molecular flexibility, guiding us to select the most rugged, stress-tolerant genotypes to populate the resilient coral cities of tomorrow. We look forward to supporting further research and collaboration with Dr. Demerlis and the University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef restoration program to help rebuild Miami’s nearshore reef communities.

Read the paper in full @ www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articl…

4 days ago | [YT] | 36

Coral Morphologic

Thank u BBC Wildlife Magazine for the CCC timelapse feature! Click to read: www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/marine-anima…

2 months ago | [YT] | 2

Coral Morphologic

We are proud to unveil the world’s longest underwater timelapse, starting May 1st 2023 and running 1,000 days through January 28, 2026. This period covers summer 2023’s unprecedented coral bleaching mortality event, and indeed multiple corals can be seen bleaching, but then recovering and growing through 2024 and 2025 into 2026.

Of greatest interest to us is the success and proliferation of the urban strain of staghorn coral native to PortMiami (Acropora cervicornis aka ACER ‘Ventura’). Not only did it not bleach, but has grown swiftly. In just four years, a single branch of ACER ‘Ventura’ has increased thousands of times in biomass, to the point that we now have one of the densest thickets of this endangered coral in the State of Florida!

Just in the past six months, these corals have endured significant extremes in temperature. With our new Aqualink buoy, we recorded late summer temps reaching 90F (32.6C) and recent 2026 winter lows of 60F (15.5C). This represents a huge range of thermal tolerance for this strain of critically important reefbuilding coral, and a reminder that corals grown for nearshore reef restoration in Florida need cold-stress adaptation as well as heat-stress.

Working with our partners at NOAA AOML and University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef, we continue our scientific investigation into the mechanisms of the strain’s resilience, and continue to amplify it for the purpose of restoring Miami’s nearshore reefs.

Of particular interest is observing how dynamic the sediment is at the site. PortMiami is subject to intense currents, magnified by passing ships displacing huge volumes of water. Despite these unnatural conditions, the corals and fish have adapted well to this anthropogenic environment.

Our ability to timelapse the growth of PortMiami’s urban corals highlights the scientific value of the Coral City Camera and its ability to document what was previously undocumented. After 6 years of near-continuous recording, and nearly 220 species of fish cataloged, there is no underwater coral reef site anywhere in the world that has been as thoroughly recorded and archived!

If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation to support the Coral City Camera you can do so here via our fund at the Key Biscayne Community Foundation:

www.kbcf.org/programs/coral-city-foundation/

3 months ago | [YT] | 13

Coral Morphologic

Watch a highlight reel from the CM-shot ‪coral fluorescence segment featured in National Geographic's ‬America's National Parks 'Biscayne' episode:

9 months ago | [YT] | 1

Coral Morphologic

Check out the live performance of Aqua Garden Flow, our 2023 audiovisual collaboration with Laraaji and Robert Beatty.

11 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 3

Coral Morphologic

This month marks 5 years of the Coral City Camera, our ongoing live stream of Miami’s underwater world!
To celebrate this milestone, have a listen to an NPR 'All Things Considered' segment with Colin:

www.npr.org/2025/04/14/nx-s1-5328601/coral-reef-mi…

Thank You to everyone who has watched, chatted, and shown support over the years!

1 year ago | [YT] | 37

Coral Morphologic

Watch a 28 minute fish party at Site 2's staghorn rubble zone view from early 2023 :)

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Coral Morphologic

The ‪@NatGeo‬ America's National Parks 'Biscayne' episode featuring a Coral Morphologic coral fluorescence segment is now available to watch in full:

1 year ago | [YT] | 6

Coral Morphologic

Check out a new 72 minute fish party! Many other long-form CCC videos are included in the extended cut playlist :)

1 year ago | [YT] | 4

Coral Morphologic

Our song ‘Anthozoa’ off the Topo Chico x Terrestrial Funk Sabores Sounds EP is now avail to stream and download on all your favorite platforms
🪸🌺🍊🌺🪸

Have a listen: open.spotify.com/track/43LtlbIGFTZfTseiAMXNnB?si=K…

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1 year ago | [YT] | 2