Archived on 6/5/2022

Horniman Museum research updates

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11 Sep '19

phys.org

Coral restoration research shows baby sea urchins boost coral survival rate

New research into co-culturing—raising juvenile sea urchins alongside lab-spawned corals—has found the technique produces an eight-times-higher survival rate in young corals, and could have major implications for the restoration of damaged reefs...

Researchers at the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London and the University of Derby spawned Tuxedo urchins ( Mespilia globulus ) and reared them to a suitable size in time for the planned spawning of broadcast corals at the Horniman Aquarium’s research laboratory. Compared to a coral survival rate of just 5% in a tank without any urchins, researchers found that 40% of the corals survived for six months in the tank with the most urchins (18 urchins reared alongside 1,250 corals).