Holy cow! Thank you so much for sharing! That is truly amazing and something I hope to see one day. Its great to know that there are still areas in the Caribbean that are going strong and healthy throughout all of the issues of the last few decades. So cool! I hope our tank can look half as amazing as that one day!
Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. All Staghorn was 40-60ft. and Elkhorn was 20ft. or less. The last couple of pics I was snorkeling in 2-3 ft. of water.
Very nice!
Here is a Porites? in very shallow water, around 2ft. deep. It was the only coral that I saw that was actually purple besides gorgonians and sea fans. It's a little bigger than a basketball.
www.engineeringfordiscovery.org
Please do! There is a lot to learn here at HBOI and all of it is related to the marine environment. Thanks for the compliments!
Look at those polyps! ;Woot
Thank you! Glad you like it! And LOL ill keep that quiet for fear of Reef War II
Thanks!
A. cervicornis is a brown acro but I think the LED is giving it a red hue and I haven't quite learned how to get perfectly true-to-life shots with our new camera. This particular coral is heavily protected and not allowed to be traded in its current status (which is in decline unfortunately). Its truly a privilege to be able to house it and care for it!
I see both sides of the story as both a scientist and a hobbyist. Its definitely easier to keep track of who is allowed to keep these corals through the proper permitting. Luckily, there are many captive grow-out, captive breeding and mariculture growout efforts for these and many other corals throughout the Caribbean to hopefully replenish the reefs throughout the Atlantic one day. In the meantime, being able to share these incredible corals with the public and teach them about our research is very exciting for me and Im glad that other hobbyists like me enjoy and appreciate what we are doing!Yea I figured it was the blue LEDs throwing me off. That really stinks that people like you can not help the hobby collect and keep these corals. Sucks given it’s already in captivity, I don’t see the harm in making sure more is in captivity
Glad to hear that people enjoy the Caribbean corals as well! I’ve been super busy at work these last few weeks so haven’t had time to take too many pictures but this is what I have off-hand.
It's what I see when I go snorkeling so to me there's nothing more beautiful! This is the view from my deck and the island to the right is one of our favorite snorkeling spots!Glad to hear that people enjoy the Caribbean corals as well! I’ve been super busy at work these last few weeks so haven’t had time to take too many pictures but this is what I have off-hand.
New Montastrea cavernosa frags donated from our Coral lab. They are settling in nicely and will post pics of them soon.
As for the palmata it has not grown much and what it has grown has just been encrusting. I have heard about snipping the tip and I may try that to see if that does anything. The staghorn on the other hand has started to show the beginnings of several new branches across all the colonies and I will need to snap a few pictures when they grow a little more. I will try to be better about updating all of my threads!
It’s always worth a shot! I’ve only ever done it by accidentally knocking off a nub. And I’m a microbiologist and just a hobbyist in terms of coral so I would never turn down a learning opportunity from another reefer!The cervicornis looks like its growing really well,
I'd do either of these cuts and maybe glue the tiny nub cutting in a another location. It has worked for me 9/10x to "wake up" dormant Acropora colonies, I esp see wild collected and maricultured acros go into this period of dormancy probably due to the stresses/acclimation of making the jump from being in the wild ---> captivity.
You are the biologist though, not me, so I'm sure your judgment > mine.
Well that’s amazing lol. Where do you live?It's what I see when I go snorkeling so to me there's nothing more beautiful! This is the view from my deck and the island to the right is one of our favorite snorkeling spots!
Virgin islands. St Thomas to be exact. And it's the islands on the left, not the right that me and my wife go snorkeling at. Some friends of ours family owns a big part of the inner island and we go camping there every summer! I love my home and I love Caribbean corals!
Wow sounds amazing! That must be a really cool place to live and snorkel. Thanks for your support and Im glad you are enjoying this tank! If you are interested you should look into our Coral Reef Health and Ecology lab. They work exclusively on Caribbean corals and we have info and past lectures on our website:
