"Breeding" new coral color morphs

[Charlie the Reefer]

Hello everyone,

I've seen some coral that are "grafted" together to essentially give the colony a different look once it grows out.

My question is... Is it possible to actually "breed" two different types of coral together (say, a gold hammer and a green frogspawn) to get a new color morph (gold/green frammer) in your tank? Or am I just mis understanding genetics/ biology.

If there is research being done on this topic/white papers, or some site anyone could point me towards I would really appreciate that as well. I'm very fascinated by this and will be an extensive "research rabbit hole" for me.

Thanks everyone!

Charlie

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It’s theoretically possible as long as the corals are the same species (or can be crossbred) - there are a few coral breeding projects going on by hobbyists on the forum here (Such as this one: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cynarina-lacrymalis-spawning-project-setup.899403/ ) but the only professional project I’m aware of is this one: https://www.horniman.ac.uk/project/project-coral/

Getting corals to spawn and then raising them successfully is a challenge, but it is possible, and the Horniman Project above has a ton of information on the topic that would be helpful.

Edit: just adding, I’m not sure how coral color genetics work, as some animals are fairly simple and some are complex, and others have simple general patterns with a few more complex patterns available- like brown and, if I remember correctly, “lilac” colorations in sheep).

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

It’s theoretically possible as long as the corals are the same species (or can be crossbred) - there are a few coral breeding projects going on by hobbyists on the forum here (Such as this one: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cynarina-lacrymalis-spawning-project-setup.899403/ ) but the only professional project I’m aware of is this one: https://www.horniman.ac.uk/project/project-coral/

Getting corals to spawn and then raising them successfully is a challenge, but it is possible, and the Horniman Project above has a ton of information on the topic that would be helpful.

Edit: just adding, I’m not sure how coral color genetics work, as some animals are fairly simple and some are complex, and others have simple general patterns with a few more complex patterns available- like brown and, if I remember correctly, “lilac” colorations in sheep).

Thank you very much for the response. I'll research both links.

Charlie