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Posts Tagged ‘Coral Morphologic’

‘Projections of a Coral City’ Album Release via Balmat

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024

We are psyched to announce the upcoming release of new music with our friend and citymate Nick León. Projections of a Coral City releases April 5th on vinyl LP and digipack CD via Balmat. Listen to the single version of ‘Deep Call’ below and pre-order the album @ https://balmat.bandcamp.com/album/projections-of-a-coral-city

Coral City Camera – 7 Month Coral Growth, Bleaching, & Erosion Timelapse (5.1.23-12.8.23)

Sunday, December 31st, 2023

The summer of 2023 will go down as the hottest in recorded history (thus far). Sadly, hot ocean water means coral bleaching, and Florida’s corals suffered tremendously this year. Fortunately the Coral City Camera was in position to create the world’s most comprehensive in-situ coral bleaching timelapses ever documented by human technology. Many attempts have been made to record a coral bleaching event, but to our knowledge, this is the most complete and longest running coral time lapse made underwater in a coral reef environment. The time lapse begins on May 1st, 2023 and you can see that the staghorn corals start growing and branching quickly. However, by mid-July water temperatures have reached the critical bleaching threshold of 87 degrees Fahrenheit (30.5C) and quickly turn white. The transplanted staghorns and elkhorn corals not only bleached, but they subsequently died. You can see how after turning white, they turn gray-brown as they are colonized by turf algae in August and September, and then they erode almost as quickly as they grew, expedited by the abundant parrotfish that graze this algae from the corals’ limestone skeletons.

Bleaching occurs when the metabolism of the golden-brown symbiotic algae that live in the coral tissue known as zooxanthellae goes into thermal overdrive. The algae’s production of photosynthetically-produced oxygen exceeds the limit the coral can safely handle inside its tissues, resulting in expulsion of the zooxanthellae (and its brown color) from its host. Because zooxanthellae normally provide a coral with photosynthetically-produced sugars, it begins to starve without these symbionts. Fast-growing corals like the endangered staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn (Acropora palmata) lack the energy stores that fleshier corals like brain corals have, and die from bleaching stress much more easily.

By the end of August 2023, all of the staghorn and elkhorn corals experimentally-transplanted by the University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef program succumbed to the excess heat and bleaching. These were corals that are native to cooler, cleaner waters offshore Miami, so it didn’t come as a complete surprise that they could not survive the urban reef environment around the CCC. However, a single strain of staghorn and elkhorn coral that are native to the Port did not bleach and continued growing happily despite water temps exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit (+32C). Not taking any chances, we brought fragments of these urban strains of stag and elkhorn coral into climate-controlled conditions at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic Marine Lab in July. Once water temperatures cooled enough, these fragments were safely returned to the CURES (Coral Urban Research Experimental Site) nursery frame that sits about 20’ from the CCC.

Many corals like the mustard hill coral (Porites asteroides) did not fully recover from bleaching until December 2023. Most of the brain corals had recovered from bleaching by November 2023.

Amazingly, a significant number of corals native to PortMiami did not bleach, suggesting that they have a combination of genes and microbiomes that have enabled them to adapt to the Anthropogenic conditions along Miami’s urban coastline. The native urban corals that did bleach managed to survive for several months without any zooxanthellae to provide them with energy, before recovering new zooxanthellae in autumn when cooler water returned. It is possible that the higher levels of nutrients and plankton in the water helped provide these corals with additional energy captured as food.

These urban corals and the bleaching timelapses highlight the scientific value of the Coral City Camera and its ability to document what was previously undocumented. After 4 years of near-continuous recording, and more than 205 species of fish cataloged, there is no underwater coral reef site anywhere in the world that has been as thoroughly recorded and archived.

While corals throughout Florida and the Keys suffered tremendously in the summer of 2023, the stressful event also demonstrated that not all corals shared the same fates. Even within the same species, some corals did not bleach, bleached and recovered, or bleached and died. Studying the resilient strains of urban corals at PortMiami may illuminate how they’ve been able to adapt to marginal conditions and excessive heat. With global fossil fuel emissions continuing to rise unsustainably, we can expect even hotter summers in the years to come. Will corals be able to adapt naturally fast enough? Will scientists be able to accelerate the evolution of these corals to withstand hotter water temperatures? We are in an existential race against time, but we believe (now more than ever) that Miami’s urban corals will play an important role in finding out what makes a resilient coral ‘super’. The newly launched Coral City Foundation aims to build a land-based coral lab in 2024 to unlock these secrets and amplify their numbers.

‘Aqua Garden Flow’

Friday, October 6th, 2023

Aqua Garden Flow, our audiovisual collaboration with Laraaji and Robert Beatty first presented live in concert this past May at the Miami Beach Bandshell, is here to stream! Watch the official film free @ https://vimeo.com/showcase/aquagardenflow

Natasha Tonić x Coral Morphologic

Friday, June 30th, 2023

The ‘Coral Cosmos’ Cropped Top Rash Guard and Surf Bottom, featuring a Platygyra sp. coral.

Shop the Natasha Tonić x Coral Morphologic Coral City collection @ https://natashatonic.com/collections/coral-city

The ‘Flower Animal’ One Piece Swimsuit, featuring a Zoanthus sp. soft coral.

The three coral prints featured in the collection are original photos taken in the Coral Morphologic studio / lab. The entirety of the Coral City collection is made with certified organic hemp, cotton, and natural fibers.

Each item purchased will plant one coral on the reef in Bali with the non-profit organization Ocean Gardener.

The ‘Coral Dream’ One Piece Swimsuit, featuring a Dipsastraea sp. coral.

Watch the full Coral City collection runway show @ Paraiso Miami Beach here.

Read interviews on the collection with the Miami New Times and Time Out.

Natasha Tonić x Coral Morphologic @ Paraiso Miami Beach

Saturday, June 17th, 2023

Natasha Tonić x Coral Morphologic Coral City collection runway show at Paraiso Miami Swim Week 2023.

We are proud to have debuted a new swimwear collaboration with Natasha Tonić at Paraiso Miami Swim Week 2023. Watch the full runway show live from the Paraiso fashion tent, which ran on Sunday, June 11, 2023.

Since their first collection in 2017, Natasha Tonić has led the swimwear industry towards an organic future by utilizing hemp fabrics because microplastics from nylon and other petroleum-based synthetic fabrics are an increasing concern to ocean health. With the Coral City collection, NT takes the commitment to sustainability one step further by planting one coral for every swimsuit purchased. Pieces in the collection feature coral designs inspired by our coral photography and the Coral City Camera.

Corals will be planted to the reefs of Bali by Indonesian non-profit Ocean Gardener, who have developed a restoration technique that uses organic ropes and wooden stakes to restore damaged reefs without the use of plastics.

Shop the Coral City collection @ https://natashatonic.com/collections/coral-city

A supercut of the show.

Swimwear design by Natasha Tonić ~ Video and prints by Coral Morphologic ~ Soundtrack by Kimi Recor ~ Jewelry by Tiffany Kunz ~ Hair by Kevin Murphy ~ Makeup by New York Makeup Academy ~ Production by Paraiso Miami Beach and Funkshion. Full show credits here.

‘America’s National Parks’

Saturday, June 3rd, 2023

We are over the moon to share we’ve contributed coral fluorescence cinematography to the Biscayne National Park episode in the second season of National Geographic’s series America’s National Parks, narrated by Garth Brooks. America’s National Parks premieres Monday, June 5 at 9/8c on the National Geographic channel, Hulu, and Disney+.

‘Aqua Garden Flow’ Retrospective

Saturday, May 27th, 2023

On Sunday, May 21st, the live audiovisual experience that was Aqua Garden Flow gently pulsed in and out of the historic Miami Beach Bandshell like a jellyfish on the tide. Laraaji and Arji OceAnanda‘s shimmering, joyous score of the film we created with Robert Beatty navigated mangrove stands, seagrass beds, and labyrinths of coral caves to arrive at a journey’s end shared by hundreds—one that felt like the beginning of a new era for Coral Morphologic.

We wish heartfelt thanks to Laraaji, Arji, Robert, and the team at the Rhythm Foundation / Miami Beach Bandshell for an amazing creative collaboration, immersive production, and fit venue for us all to witness Aqua Garden Flow come to life.

Post-Aqua Garden Flow bliss. Laraaji, Colin Foord, Robert Beatty, J.D. McKay, and Arji OceAnanda.

‘Aqua Garden Flow’ @ Miami Beach Bandshell

Monday, May 1st, 2023

We and Rhythm Foundation are proud to announce Aqua Garden Flow, a special live audiovisual performance from legendary ambient musician Laraaji accompanied by Coral Morphologic films with animations by Robert Beatty, on Sunday, May 21st, 2023 at the Miami Beach Bandshell. Laraaji, joined by Arji OceAnanda, will perform Aqua Garden Flow, a new piece of music composed to the films of Coral Morphologic. This landmark performance is the inaugural installment in a new series of live audiovisual ambient collaborations from the Miami Beach Bandshell and Coral Morphologic as part of the Bandshell Laboratories initiative. Join us for an unforgettable, transcendent experience of healing music and film.

Purchase tickets to Aqua Garden Flow @ https://link.dice.fm/ka349b2f5bbf

‘Coral Persistence Despite Marginal Conditions in the Port of Miami’

Friday, April 28th, 2023

Symmetrical Brain Coral (Pseuododiploria strigosa) emersed during low tide along the shoreline of PortMiami.

In July of 2021, we co authored a scientific research paper with NOAA – AOML on Miami’s intertidal urban corals and their potential scientific value. This paper, ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Coral Persistence Within Highly Urbanized Locations in the Port of Miami, Florida‘, yielded strong evidence that these pioneering corals avoid bleaching and stem disease better than their conspecifics offshore on the natural reefs.

In a new paper published in the research journal Scientific Reports, ‘Coral persistence despite marginal conditions in the Port of Miami‘, the monitoring of sites throughout the Port since 2018 revealed periodic extremes in temperature, seawater pH, and salinity, far in excess of what have been measured in most coral reef environments. Despite conditions that would kill many reef species, we have documented diverse coral communities growing on artificial substrates at these sites—reflecting remarkable tolerance to environmental stressors. Furthermore, many of the more prevalent species within these communities are now conspicuously absent or in low abundance on nearby reefs, owing to their susceptibility and exposure to stony coral tissue loss disease.

As we hypothesized in 2014 and evidenced by our recent findings, Miami’s system of urban waterways provides an inadvertent anthropogenic laboratory whose corals hold keys to understanding how the world’s coral reefs might adapt to changing climate and water chemistry in the decades to come.

Read ‘Coral persistence despite marginal conditions in the Port of Miami‘:

URBAN-CORAL-PAPER-2023-s41598-023-33467-7

Read news coverage on the paper from WLRN Miami.

‘I Sea You’ @ Davos 2023

Tuesday, January 17th, 2023

Singer Achinoam “Noa” Nini Barak performing at the I Sea You concert.

We are excited to have contributed our imagery to the official opening concert of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, entitled I Sea You, which was a powerful cultural message of unity and collaboration, as well as a call to action to protect and preserve the resilient coral reefs of the Northern Red Sea.

Watch the full concert below and visit the World Economic Forum website to learn more @ https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2023/sessions/i-sea-you

‘Projections of a Coral City’ Retrospective

Monday, December 5th, 2022

Watch the full Projections of a Coral City program above.

The sun has set on Projections of a Coral City, our largest installation to date, and we are thankful for everyone who made this monumental work possible. From the Knight Foundation’s continued support of our mission, to the collaborative spirit of the Arsht Center, to the hundreds of thousands of people who witnessed this installation: we are eternally grateful.

Projections of a Coral City was the 15-year culmination of our goal to create a new mythology for the city of Miami — one that tells the story of past, present, and future sea-level rise and fall and the ouroboros of architectural development — of the ancient coral reef tract’s calcium carbonate structures and its re-use millennia later in concrete skyscrapers of present day. We hope that Projections of a Coral City shed light on the sea-level rise projections referenced in the project’s title, and how the City’s buildings and infrastructure might be reclaimed by coral as an artificial reef should humanity not act to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change, to which Miami is among the most vulnerable cities on Earth.

Special Thanks to the Knight Foundation, whose generous support made POACC possible; the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, who graciously hosted the event; the dream team of creatives that helped us bring POACC to life; and Light Harvest / A3 Visual for the absolutely stunning projection display.

Please see the Projections of a Coral City website for full info and production credits @ https://projectionsofacoralcity.com/

Read coverage of Projections of a Coral City from the Miami Herald.

‘Projections of a Coral City’ @ Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022

We are ecstatic to announce Projections of a Coral City, a large-scale projection-mapping installation to be presented on the exterior of the Knight Concert Hall nightly, 6PM-12AM, during Miami Art Week from Tuesday, November 29 through Saturday, December 3, 2022. Projections of a Coral City, featuring macroscopic images of corals native to Miami and from around the world, is a monumental artwork and the largest projection of corals ever presented globally. Projections of a Coral City is made possible through the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Miami is a coral city. Built with marine limestone mined from the Everglades, its concrete skyline stands like corals colonizing the fossilized reef ridge on which the city was built. Miami and its maritime environment are inextricably connected geologically, historically, culturally and economically. Engaging residents and visitors with Miami’s coral reefs and waters connects them to the literal foundation of the city and to its future.

The corals featured in Projections of a Coral City were grown on flat tiles and 3D-printed scale models of the Knight Concert Hall over many years in our Miami laboratory, and subsequently photographed and enlarged to envelop the building’s southwest side. These aquacultured corals include the colorful, native Ricordea florida corallimorph. Corallimorphs are an understudied group of soft corals that scientists predict will proliferate in a world where oceans are acidified and stony corals can no longer calcify into reefs. Projections of a Coral City reimagines the Knight Concert Hall’s terraced form designed by architect César Pelli as an ever-morphing coral head and, as the sea-level rise projections referenced in the project’s title portend, suggests how the City’s buildings and infrastructure might be reclaimed by coral as an artificial reef should humanity not act to prevent and mitigate sea-level rise.

An ambient soundscape foreshadowing the City’s future by Coral Morphologic and Nick León will play in tandem with the projections on the Arsht Center’s Thomson Plaza for the Arts on Biscayne Boulevard.

For more information and production credits, please visit the Projections of a Coral City website @ https://projectionsofacoralcity.com/

15 Years of Coral Morphologic

Thursday, October 6th, 2022

Coral Morphologic: J.D. McKay & Shadow (left) / Colin Foord & Kardtigan (right).

Today, October 6th, marks 15 years of Coral Morphologic! Here’s us celebrating @ CM HQ with the lab cats. Thank You to everyone who has shown us love and support over the years: you know who you are and we love you too!

‘Threshold’ @ PortMiami

Tuesday, September 13th, 2022

Threshold: a series of gently-swaying coral archways lead departing passengers from land to sea.

We are excited to unveil Threshold, a new Coral Morphologic video work and our second public art installation at PortMiami. Threshold was commissioned by Miami-Dade Art in Public Places in conjunction with Virgin Voyages for the recently-built Terminal V. Take a quick tour below:

ABC WPLG Local 10’s Louis Aguirre Visits Coral City Camera to See the New Elkhorn Transplants

Wednesday, August 24th, 2022

ABC WPLG Local 10 anchor / reporter Louis Aguirre donned a wetsuit, mask, and snorkel to visit the Coral City Camera the day after the University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef program transplanted endangered elkhorn corals alongside the staghorn corals they transplanted last year. Watch the feature above / read the story @ https://tinyurl.com/ynaxu428

Rescue a Reef explains what they hope to achieve in this exciting new chapter in Coral City:

‘One year ago, the Rescue a  Reef team from the University of Miami outplanted colonies of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) at the Coral City Camera to create a public-facing restoration site and better understand how corals adapt to urban environments. We were thrilled with their success! To expand on this small-scale experiment, we outplanted twenty-five colonies of elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) at the CCC and will monitor their growth, productivity, and resilience over the next year! The new corals consisted of five different genotypes that were put through heat stress testing by UM and the Shedd Aquarium, and included some of the most successful in the face of rising temperatures. This experiment was designed to be a springboard for expanded research and explore novel ways to garden and restore corals in urban environments. Along with a greater understanding of our Coral City, we hope that having a public-facing coral restoration site will help communities make a stronger connection with corals and give them more incentives to fight to protect them!’

Star Island Seawall Collapse & Coral Rescue

Monday, August 22nd, 2022

As reported in the Miami New Times, in June 2022, a combination of heavy rains and an ancient crumbling seawall in the process of reinforcement along Star Island’s southwest corner resulted in its collapse. The collapse was discovered by our colleagues at NOAA who arrived there by boat to study the nature and resilience of the urban corals in North Biscayne Bay. This is in addition to sites on the north and south side of the MacArthur Causeway and the east end of PortMiami near the Coral City Camera. Brain corals from these sites were analyzed and published ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Coral Persistence Within Highly Urbanized Locations in PortMiami’ in 2021, the first paper of its kind to offer an explanation for the success of these corals compared to their offshore counterparts. 

Coral Morphologic first began exploring these urban habitats after documenting an unusual Acropora sp. inside Government Cut in 2009 which totally upended the idea of what an ‘ideal’ habitat was for these endangered stony corals. We subsequently started exploring areas deeper in North Biscayne Bay and found surprisingly robust populations of reef building corals. When a historic cold snap in January 2010 left them unphased (while the Florida Keys nearshore corals were all but wiped out), we began to suspect that the corals in these habitats were truly special, and scientifically valuable for research. 

Colin first observed the Star Island seawall on Feb 14th 2013 when Gloria Estefan’s son Nayib asked him to document the marine life living along their riprap seawall (she was so happy to learn how healthy it was!). He was amazed by the life on these rocks, and how many more fish there were around them then on the neighboring seawall that lacked riprap. But upon closer inspection there were several very large Orbicella faveolata encrusted directly on it and multiple large brain corals at the base of it. This seawall at 40 Star Island Drive was likely the oldest seawall in Miami, possibly dating back to its development in the 1920s. 

When the SCTLD (Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease) outbreak took off in 2015 we observed that these urban corals seemed to be more resistant to it, and would often survive with partial mortality. With these anecdotal observations, Dr. Ian Enochs of NOAA reached out to us about setting up a formal investigation to see how these corals might differ from their offshore counterparts.

In early 2020 with the launch of the Coral City Camera, the CURES (Coral Urban Research Experimental Site) nursery was set up within view at the east end of Port Miami where research continues to this day (and now serves as an experimental research site for Rescue a Reef to ‘stress adapt’ their corals to help find more resilient strains that will be useful in the restoration of Miami’s nearshore reefs). 

After NOAA and the University of Miami performed the rescue of the corals at 40 Star Island in July, they repatriated a number of them to an offshore ‘Spawning Hub’ on Rainbow Reef where they will be able to spawn with other members of their species and hopefully provide some other their resilient genetics and microbiome to the next generation. Fifteen colonies and fragments of corals were also brought to the Coral City Camera site at PortMiami where they were cemented down by UM scientists. Several weeks later, all these transplanted corals have survived and appear to be settling in nicely to their new urban coral community.

Update 11/2/22: Watch a follow-up feature on the seawall collapse and coral rescue with ABC WPLG Local 10 anchor / reporter Louis Aguirre:

Terrestrial Funk Mix & Interview

Monday, August 15th, 2022

We are psyched to share a fresh mix and interview with Terrestrial Funk, the Miami-based record label that releases the physical versions of Coral Morphologic’s music. Listen to the mix below and read J.D.’s interview with TFunk’s Daniel Edenburg-Story, where they talk inspirations behind the recently released CM 1, early and pre-Coral Morphologic times, and more @ https://terrestrialfunk.com/blogs/news/j-d-mckay-coral-morphologic-mix-interview

Coral City Camera – One Year Staghorn Coral Growth Timelapse (6.28.21-6.28.22)

Wednesday, July 13th, 2022

On June 23rd, 2021 fifteen colonies of five different genotypes of endangered staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis) were transplanted to the rubble zone in front of the Coral City Camera by Rescue a Reef, a citizen science program based at the University of Miami. The goal of this experiment was to try and identify stress-tolerant strains of staghorn corals to better inform Rescue a Reef of the strains best suited for near-shore habitats. We anticipated that not all the strains would survive (or perhaps none would survive), but given that this was a science experiment using clones, any mortality would be offset by the fact that dozens to hundreds of more clones exist in Rescue a Reefs offshore coral nurseries. The results greatly exceeded our best expectations!

As far as we are aware, this is the longest continuous in-situ growth timelapse of corals ever made!

This timelapse begins on June 28, 2021, just a few days after transplantation and replacing the CCC (which slightly altered the perspective). Over the course of the next several weeks, tissue die-off progressed rapidly across many of the colonies (Seen as bright white skeleton before being overgrown with brown algae). However, after a month of acclimation, the staghorn corals stabilized and adapted to their new Anthropogenic habitat despite water temperatures exceeding 90 (32C) in August and September (but no significant coral bleaching was observed!). Over the course of this time, the perspective shifts slowly as the Camera slowly subsides in the sediment and leans away from the rubble zone (due to the powerful currents in the area).

Ongoing research with University of Miami, NOAA, and Penn State University is now looking into the microbiomes of these staghorn corals to compare how they may have changed from their offshore clones. We observed on a night dive in September of 2021 while filming the ‘Coral City Fluorotour‘ that these staghorn corals were expressing fluorescent green proteins which is unusual for the species, and isn’t observed in their offshore counterparts. Unlocking the secrets of these urban-adapted ‘super corals’ is just the next step in understanding their remarkable resilience. Perhaps the site around PortMiami is ideal for evolutionarily assisting and stress-adapting corals before out-planting to the beleaguered nearshore reefs around Miami.

Just as the new coral growth is interesting to watch, equally interesting is to witness the erosion and disappearance of the dead staghorn branches of the colony closest to the Camera. This erosion occurs from the parrotfish whose powerful beak-like teeth can rasp the surface layer of algae while crunching the limestone skeleton (and then pooping sand). The club-tipped finger coral (Porites porites) in the lower right corner of the view is also interesting to observe over the year, as the parrotfish are fond of eating the healthy branch tips, rendering them very club-like in Coral City!

Playback speed is at 15 frames (days) per second (about one month per 2 seconds).

Coral Lab Installation @ Puntacana Resort & Club

Tuesday, June 21st, 2022

President of the UN Geneva General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid and Colin touring the Center for Marine Innovation upon its completion.

Coral Morphologic was recently commissioned by Fundación Grupo Puntacana (FGPC) at the Punta Cana Resort & Club to overhaul and upgrade their coral restoration lab infrastructure at their Center for Marine Innovation with funding support from the German GIZ. This project entailed re-plumbing an outdoor greenhouse that is capable of running either closed-loop, or pulling water directly from the ocean for easy flushing and water changes. Additionally, a climate-controlled indoor lab was also constructed utilizing the latest technology for coral aquaculture, including Ecotech G5 XR30 LED lights, Apex Neptune aquarium computers, Reef Octopus protein skimmers, and calcium reactors. This improved lab infrastructure is enabling marine scientists at FGPC to generate thousands of microfrags of massive reef-building species such as brain and star corals. These important corals will add needed biodiversity to their long-running reef restoration program that has successfully out-planted thousands of staghorn corals grown on their underwater nursery tables offshore.

The climate-controlled indoor coral microfragmentation systems and wet lab feature state-of-the-art LED and aquarium technology to keep freshly fragmented corals healthy.

Coral microfragmentation: growing corals smarter and faster.

Outdoor microfragmentation systems are utilized for long-term grow-out before the corals are transplanted back onto Puntacana’s reefs.

The indoor coral microfragmentation systems and wet lab were designed with a viewing window that enables tourists to observe marine scientists microfragging and growing corals, without interrupting their work.

‘Illuminating Coral’

Wednesday, June 1st, 2022

We are excited to present Illuminating Coral, an eight-episode educational course created with our longtime collaborator John McSwain during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The course, made exclusively with Parley for the Oceans, dives into the lives’ of coral, sheds light on their vital role in our global ecosystem, and offers solutions on how humans and coral can live in symbiosis both now and in the future. Watch Illuminating Coral in full via the Parley Ocean School @ https://edu.parley.tv/course/illuminating-coral/

AP News Interview with Coral Morphologic

Monday, May 9th, 2022

AP News has released a CM interview with updates on our latest film work, speaking appearances, and Coral City Camera milestones. Read @ https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-miami-corals-coral-reefs-37240aae96c867bec34c104c722cc82f

Coral Morphologic in the laboratory / studio, 2022. Photographs by Lynne Sladky.

Read additional pieces from CBS Miami and NBC Miami.

Coral Morphologic @ Aspen Ideas: Climate

Tuesday, April 26th, 2022

Miami aka Coral City.

Coral Morphologic will be proudly representing Miami’s underwater denizens at the inaugural Aspen Ideas: Climate conference, May 9-12 with a nightly showing of our film Coral City Fluorotour on the New World Center’s wallcast and speaking on the panel ‘The Ocean is a Climate Superhero.’

The morning of Wednesday, May 11th Colin will join Swati Thiyagarajan and Barton Seaver in conversation on how the ocean is poised to be a hero in the fight against climate change, with natural systems that help undo the damage human activity has caused.

Wallcast showings of Coral City Fluorotour follow the evening speaking sessions, beginning at 8pm, and are free and open to the public. For more information, programming, and to obtain passes, please visit www.aspenideasclimate.org

A still from Coral City Fluorotour. Fluorescent staghorn coral at the Coral City Camera site.

‘Symbiodiniaceae Diversity and Characterization of Palytoxin in Various Zoantharians (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia)’

Friday, April 22nd, 2022

Undescribed fluorescent Palythoa species photographed along the shoreline of PortMiami.

We are happy to announce the publication of a scientific paper in Springer Nature analyzing the presence and potency of palytoxin (PLTX) in Palythoa spp. and Zoanthus spp. Zoantharians conducted by the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography and Coral Biome in Marseilles, France. PLTX is one of the most potent toxins known on the planet. It is an extremely large and complex organic compound that has been described by biochemists as the ‘Mt. Everest of organic synthesis’. An organism that naturally produces large amounts of PLTX is of great importance for research scientists to better understand its pharmacology. PLTX has been found to have toxic effects on head and neck tumors, and therefore warrants further pharmaceutical investigation.

Initially, this compound was blue-prospected in Hawaii where native Hawaiian people used the the mucous of Palythoa found in a very specific (and taboo) tide pool (known as limu-make-o-Hana, the ‘seaweed of death of Hana’) to coat their spear points before battle. So taboo was this tide pool for outsiders, that when scientists sampled the Palythoa in 1961, they found their lab burned to the ground on the same day. A reminder to scientists to respect native wisdom, culture, and practices when performing science on other cultures’ land!

In this paper we found that an undescribed species (Palythoa aff. clavata) we sampled from PortMiami in 2012 was found to have five times the concentration of the notorious Hawaiian species Palythoa toxica. The experiment also tried to determine whether PLTX was produced by symbiotic microbial symbionts / zooxanthellae, or by the organism itself. Highest concentrations of PLTX were found within the tissue itself, and isolated cultures of zooxanthellae from these polyps failed to produce PLTX in the laboratory. This suggests, but does not confirm, that the Palythoa polyps themselves are producing this toxin. While the mechanism of its biosynthesis remains unknown, it highlights how Miami’s urban marine environs hold important scientific discoveries still waiting to be uncovered.

Read ‘Symbiodiniaceae diversity and characterization of palytoxin in various zoantharians (Anthozoa, Hexacorallia)’:

Colins-Palytoxin-Paper

‘Coral City Fluorotour’

Thursday, October 28th, 2021

We are proud to present Coral City Flourotour, our first short film in 3 years, and our first in-ocean filming project using techniques developed in the CM lab / studio. Coral City Flourotour documents the highly fluorescent corals living near the Coral City Camera site at PortMiami.

These urban corals are not just survivors, but pioneers who have self-recruited to the boulder shoreline deployed to the Port in 2010. Some of the larger brain corals featured were previously transplanted from other urban habitats by Miami-Dade County DERM. Coral Morphologic has documented 27 of Florida’s 48 stony coral species living at this site, as well as more than 170 species of fish documented via the CCC.

Critically endangered staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis) were transplanted to the site in June 2021 by University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef program. The fluorescence survey conducted in this film revealed they’ve activated fluorescent proteins which are not normally expressed in offshore waters. Scientists from UM and NOAA are now seeking to understand what changes these corals have undergone adapting to life in such an anthropogenically-altered environment, as it may have larger implications related to the restoration of Floridian and Caribbean reefs. Recently published research by NOAA has discovered the corals living in these urbanized environments have made important adaptations that enable them to thrive in Miami’s coastal waters.

Special Thanks to Bridge Initiative, Bas Fisher Invitational, PortMiami, Biscayne Bay Pilots, Miami-Dade County, NOAA AOML, Rescue a Reef

‘Un lago de jade verde’

Tuesday, October 12th, 2021

We are excited to be included in ‘Un lago de jade verde‘ – the inaugural exhibition by the Institute for Postnatural Studies. Our film Natural History Redux will be on display as part of the show from October 14, 2021 – March 13, 2022. The exhibition is located on the 5th floor of the CentroCentro cultural center in Madrid, Spain.

“A Green Jade Lake is envisioned as an experiential journey that invites the visitor to wander through its different rooms and landscapes and to reflect on the idea of nature in the contemporary moment. In a situation of ecological fragility, we need to rethink the relationships and flows that are established between humans, ecosystems and their environments, and to take into consideration the new complexities that exist between the natural and the artificial.

Taking the image of a forest as its starting point, as the threshold beyond which categories become entwined, the exhibition includes experience, fiction, artistic work and research to allow us to explore new ways in which we can interact with the planet. Addressing different subjects such as coexistence, botany, territorial policies or the aesthetics associated with the representation of nature, the exhibition is understood as a constellation that creates open and transformative universes.

This exhibition proposes a new contemporary approach to nature in which all audiences, all bodies and all voices can participate.”

Artists: Coral Morphologic, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Fabian Knecht, Geocinema, Gerard Ortín Castellví, Jana Winderer, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Jonathas de Andrade, Lola Zoido, Maria Nolla, Mauricio Freyre, Michael Wang, Mónica Mays, Tomás Díaz Cedeño, Ursula Biemann, +

Update 1/13/22: View and download the ‘Un lago de jade verde’ exhibition book @ https://www.centrocentro.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/Un_lago_de_jade_verde.pdf

‘Molecular Mechanisms of Coral Persistence Within Highly Urbanized Locations in the Port of Miami, Florida’

Sunday, July 25th, 2021

Symmetrical Brain Coral (Pseuododiploria strigosa) emersed during low tide along the shoreline of PortMiami.

For more than a decade, Coral Morphologic has sought to shine a spotlight on Miami’s intertidal urban corals and their potential scientific value. These surprisingly resilient corals appear to avoid bleaching and stem disease better than their conspecifics offshore on the natural reefs. Over the past two years we have been working with scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) to explain these differences using molecular lab analysis of tissue samples collected in the field. That work finally culminated in ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Coral Persistence Within Highly Urbanized Locations in the Port of Miami, Florida‘ published in the research journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

We found that the Symmetrical Brain Corals (Pseuododiploria strigosa) living in the urban environment (specifically alongside MacArthur Causeway and Star Island in Miami) were predominantly colonized by the Durusdinium sp. strain of symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that provides the coral with photosynthetic energy during daylight hours. Durusdinium is known to be a heat-tolerant genus of zooxanthellae, and has long been investigated by scientists seeking to create bleaching-resistant ‘super corals’. However, until this study, the Symmetrical Brain Coral had rarely been observed hosting this species of zooxanthellae elsewhere in the region, making these observations here in Miami quite remarkable.

Beyond the helpful symbionts, the Symmetrical Brain Corals living in the urban environment were also found to be producing proteins and enzymes known to identify and digest pathogenic invaders. These proteins could be a two-fold benefit to the coral since disease-causing microbes can be digested as food before they can infect the coral. The urban marine environments around Miami often have high concentrations of phytoplankton and turbidity in the water, along with high bacterial concentrations that frequently require ‘no swim’ public health advisories. The ability to capture and extract more energy from food could enhance its health and provide sustenance during times of bleaching.

These findings from a single species of urban coral in Miami’s coastal environment suggest further investigation is warranted in the variety of other reef-building species that have self-recruited to the City’s concrete and riprap shorelines. It also demonstrates how the human-made hydrogeologic conditions around PortMiami serve as an evolutionary gauntlet selecting for corals better adapted for life in the Anthropocene.

Read ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Coral Persistence Within Highly Urbanized Locations in the Port of Miami, Florida‘:

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Volcom x Coral Morphologic

Sunday, March 7th, 2021

We are proud to unveil the Volcom X Coral Morphologic collection, a men’s / women’s clothing line featuring our flower anemone and brain coral photography blended with classic Volcom design. The collection explores the interface of land and sea, or surf zone, and is focused on surf and swimwear. With global coral reef habitats on the brink of ecological collapse, this collaboration was born out of a mutual desire to promote the restoration of coral reefs around the world.

The garments feature Eco True production, Volcom’s ongoing effort of turning sustainability commitments into actions with responsible manufacturing practices, better fiber sourcing, assessing impacts, and meaningful give backs. In addition to organic cotton and water-saving digital printing, the collection features Econyl®, a regenerated nylon yarn made from discarded fishing nets and other post consumer waste.

Shop the collection @ https://www.volcom.com/collections/coral-morph

Jack Robinson in the tube, by Tai Vandyke.

‘Coral Morphologic 2’

Friday, September 4th, 2020

We are grateful to present Coral Morphologic 2, an album of nine records inspired by the corals’ cosmic ability to synchronize their lives to Earth’s daily rotation upon its axis, the Moon’s monthly trip around Earth, and Earth’s yearly orbit of the Sun. CM 2 was written, produced, and mixed by Coral Morphologic and mastered by Adam McDaniel at Drop of Sun Studios, Asheville NC. The album features artwork by Robert Beatty, and the ‘Poster Edition‘ of the album includes an 18″ x 24″ poster version of the album art, while the ‘Print Edition‘ includes a set of nine 5″ x 5″ Coral Morphologic photographs representing each track on the album. Stream CM 2 via Spotify and pick up the album in digital and poster / print editions @ https://coralmorphologic.bandcamp.com/album/coral-morphologic-2

Update 10/2/20: Read an interview with the Miami New Times on CM 2 and pick up the reissue of Coral Morphologic 1 @ https://terrestrialfunk.com/products/coral-morphologic-coral-morphologic-1-tf008

BBC Interview with Coral Morphologic

Monday, July 27th, 2020

We are psyched to share BBC Outlook has released an audio interview on the origins of Coral Morphologic and the long road to our latest project, the Coral City Camera. Listen @ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08lqyzy and watch a feature on the CCC below.

Update 1/31/21: listen to an updated version of the BBC Outlook interview @ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszf12 and read articles featuring the CCC from the Miami HeraldPitchfork, NBC 6 South FloridaWLRN South Florida, and Miami New Times.

‘Coral City Camera’

Friday, February 7th, 2020

We are proud to announce the official launch of the Coral City Camera, an underwater camera streaming live from our joint urban coral research site with NOAA’s AOML Coral Program. Watch the CCC live at coralcitycamera.com, and for a soundtrack to accompany the view, listen to the Coral City Camera mix series.

We kicked off the launch with a party at Pérez Art Museum on the Miami waterfront. Romulo Del Castillo provided the Miami jams following a panel discussion led by National Geographic explorer Alizé Carrère featuring Colin, NOAA scientist Dr. Ian Enochs, and Miami Beach’s environment & sustainability director Elizabeth Wheaton.

Massive Thanks to our CCC collaborators Bridge Initiative and Bas Fisher Invitational, NOAA’s AOML Coral Program, Reuben Molinares, who created the CCC website with art by Brian Butler, and the myriad of supporters who made this project a reality.

The CCC floating on Biscayne Bay – 2.6.20.

Update 6/1/20: The CCC is now screening at the Miami International Airport as part of the Miami International Airport Moving Images (MIAmi) video installation series, located near gate J7:

Update 10/16/20: The CCC is now screening at the HistoryMiami Museum.

Update 12/9/20: The CCC has been named ‘Best Public Art’ in Miami New Times’ Best of Miami 2020 issue.

Update 12/1/21: The CCC is now screening at University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum: