A hyper-fluorescent juvenile Montastrea cavernosa rescued from Government Cut.

After months of impatiently watching dredge ships working offshore Miami, Coral Morphologic and other researchers were finally granted a brief window of opportunity from May 26 until June 6th in which to rescue corals left behind from the legally-required relocation effort from the Army Corps of Engineers’ Deep Dredge of Government Cut. This was a much shorter length of time than we had been prepared for, and as such, we had to respond with considerable urgency in order to rescue as many corals as possible. Fortunately we had begun our detailed preparations in January 2014 by coordinating students and professors from the University of Miami to help in the effort. Collectively, the Miami Coral Rescue Mission removed over 2,000 stony corals that would have otherwise been destroyed in the process to make way for the larger ships that will pass through the soon-to-be-expanded Panama Canal.

The majority of the corals that Coral Morphologic removed from Government Cut have now been transplanted to an artificial reef about one mile south from where they originated, and where we will continue to monitor them to ensure their long-term survival. Some corals will be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for research. And the rest of the corals were brought back to our Lab, where we will document them via film and photography for a body of work titled ‘Coral City’, in which we will present them as fluorescent icons for a 21st century Miami.

While we could have rescued more corals with an extended deadline, the Miami Coral Rescue Mission is not over. It is now entering a longer-term monitoring phase in which we will continue to assess the health of surrounding coral reefs through July 2015, when the Deep Dredge project is finally slated for completion.

Read a New York Times article on the rescue mission and listen to an NPR story below covering a day out on the water. Click the link below the NPR story to read the remainder of this post.

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Coral Morphologic is proud to announce the digital release of the remixed and remastered Natural History Redux this Thursday, March 6, 2014. NHR compiles our original 23 ‘Natural History’ videos (that were previous only available online individually in 720p) into a digital 1080p collector’s edition.

Seen above is a fluorescence photograph of an ultra rare hybrid staghorn coral (Acropora prolifera) living in Miami’s Government Cut waterway. Colin first introduced this coral to the world at TEDxMIA in 2011. Now the Army Corps of Engineers’ “Deep Dredge” project to expand Miami’s port capabilities will necessitate the evacuation of this and thousands of other corals before their habitat is dynamited. It is Coral Morphologic’s mission to rescue them. Find out more 7:30pm Tuesday January 21st 2014 at the University of Miami Cox Science Building Room 145.

We are psyched to share that our short film Fungia Food was included in the ‘Nature’ episode of Adult Swim‘s show Off The Air. Check out the episode above.

We are psyched to debut the Coral Morphologic + Dylan Romer-directed video for Dim Past‘s ‘Spectre In Wire’, an aquatic cut off the Black Dolphin EP. Utilizing Google Glass and GoPro devices, we take a trip down the Miami River, through Government Cut, and out to the sea, our destination. There we dive in and illuminate the Corals of Miami, keepers of a magical yet ephemeral realm. Dylan Romer’s reality-augmenting ‘Time Piles’ application treats the exploration, holding the experience together like a glue until we resurface.

The video originally premiered at the Collabo Show via our projection-sculpture ‘Version Key #2’, and online via Dazed Digital.

We are honored to be featured in the most recent issue of the UM Magazine and have one of our photos featuring a menagerie of our colorful Ricordea florida color morphs grace the cover. The article highlights the contributions of University of Miami alumni (’04) and Coral Morphologic co-founder Colin Foord to the body of science and public understanding of coral reef organisms through site-specific and multi-media artworks. The aquacultural legacy continues with our mentorship of University of Miami marine science students who get hands on experience growing corals within our Overtown laboratory.

We are psyched to announce the release of a series of skateboard decks in collaboration with MIA Skate Shop featuring the photography of three different fluorescent corals that call Miami their home. The collaboration is a logical extension of our view of Miami as the Coral City. A city whose cement buildings are metaphorical monuments to the fossilized remains of an ancient coral reef that once ran through it. Skaters will now be able to skate through a city of coral (recycled as concrete) on boards that reflect its bio-geologic past, present, and future. Miami, a city where vertebrate and invertebrate life-forms are forever bonded through calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate skeletons that were once enveloped with fluorescent coral tissue now form the foundation for a neon metropolis that mirrors its coral reefs. A metropolis with an Atlantean destiny, where corals will one day recolonize the streets and buildings as their own.

The limited edition decks (3 color-ways, hand numbered editions of 50) will be available starting Saturday, May 25 at the release party, and at both MIA shops in Miami Beach and Sunny Isles, Florida.

Tombstone (close up).

From April 13 – May 4 we will have Tombstone, our new installation, on exhibition at Swampspace in the Design District of Miami. The piece consists of a projection of Colpophyllia natans thrown onto a keystone screen of its own fossilized ancestors, set upon concrete blocks, they themselves comprised of calcium derived from ancient Floridian reefs.

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Coral Morphologic is featured in the February 2012 edition of Ocean Drive Magazine.

During the week of Art Basel-Miami Beach 2011, we opened the doors of our aquaculture lab and welcomed guests to see our work and inspirations up close and personal. Jeff Jetton and Brendan Canty (of the band Fugazi) were two of our guests from Washington, DC, and we were psyched to give them a detailed look at our lab, our ethos, and how we managed to develop a DIY hybrid science-art concept into reality.

Catch us in the Miami New Times’ 2011 People Issue. Pick up a print edition on November 23rd.

Check out the video from Colin’s TEDx talk, where he highlights Miami’s urban corals – specifically a rare hybrid “super” coral that may help in future rehabilitation of Florida’s fragile reefs.

We are thrilled to share that Colin will be counted as a speaker at the TEDxMIA 2011 annual conference Between The Lines, September 13th at the New World Center on Miami Beach. He will expound the adaptational prowess of an extremely rare “hybrid” Caribbean stony coral (Acropora prolifera) he discovered while exploring the waters of Biscayne Bay and Government Cut. Click here to read an interview with Colin on the meaning of this find and what it predicts for the future of Florida’s coral reefs.

We are proud to announce the fifth release in our South Florida-centric 7″ vinyl series; ‘Slave Exchange’ b/w ‘Sweetwater’, from Miami’s Lil Daggers. The wax is a limited edition run of 100 copies in black vinyl, with a wheat-pasted photo on each individual sleeve affixed by the band. As usual, we have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.

The release party will be held within a party: Saturday, January 16th @ the 2nd annual Sweatstock. Check out the set times for a bigger picture of the event – many amazing bands will perform, including Discosoma’s Lil Daggers, Beings, and Guy Harvey. The 7″ will be available at Sweat Records exclusively Saturday, which is also Record Store Day. After Saturday, you can pick up the record at Sweat as well as the Coral Morphologic store.

We are proud to present the debut 7″ vinyl release (‘Innovator’ b/w ‘Stuck In The Night’) from Miami’s Plains. The record is limited to 100 copies in black vinyl with individually-stenciled sleeve art by band leader/ songwriter Michael McGinnis. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.

BAR is hosting the 7″ release party this Friday, September the 3rd with live sets from Plains and Animal Tropical. We will have the record for sale for $7 at the show.

For those who wish to purchase the Plains 7″ online, please see the Coral Morphologic store.

We are proud to present the debut 7″ vinyl release (‘Take Your Time (With Me)’ b/w ‘Never Seen Snow’) from West Palm Beach’s Guy Harvey. The record is limited to 100 copies in black vinyl with individually-screened sleeve art by the band. We have rubber stamped our corallimorph logo onto the b-side of the center-sticker and stamped/ numbered the a-side.

To celebrate The Vagabond is hosting the 7″ release party this Friday the 13th with sponsorship by Sweat Records and the live sounds of Guy Harvey and The Jameses. We will have the record for sale for $7 at the show; see you there!

For those who wish to purchase the Guy Harvey 7″ online, please see the Coral Morphologic store.

On Saturday April 17th, we projected two video loops during ‘Sweatstock’; a free, all-day, all-ages block party in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood celebrating Sweat Records 5-year anniversary. For No Age, Sweatstock’s headliner, we projected the neon green mouth of a Fungia sp. coral that actively ‘smiled’ over the energetic performance and enthusiastic audience, as seen in the video above.

Prior to No Age, we displayed an undulating, double-mouthed Ricordea florida polyp for Otto von Schirach‘s swamp-freak take on Miami Bass (below).

We are proud to have helped contribute to what we consider was the best music festival Miami has seen in recent memory. Congrats and thanks to Lolo and Sweat Records for an awesome 5 years of organizing and promoting our Miami music scene; the Magic City would be a lot less magical without your hard work and drive.

During the nights of Art Basel Miami Beach our 2009 film reel was displayed on the 80′ X 42′ LED screen on the facade of the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami as part of the Media Mesh Project. The video compilation was curated by artist George Sanchez-Calderon and featured short films by the following artists: Lou Ann Colodny, Aiden Dillard, Alvaro Ilizarbe (Freegums), Justin Long, Ferran Martin, Coral Morphologic, Gavin Perry, Carlos Rigau, Bert Rodriguez, Damian Rojo, TM Sisters, and Jen Stark.

WLRN, one of Miami’s local PBS stations, put together a segment on us titled Aquascaping. Special thanks to Andrew Hevia, who produced the piece.

Still photo (above) of aquarium/ projection of our contribution to the Sweat Records X Iggy Pop t-shirt release party, August 22, 2009 at the Awarehouse in the Wynwood Art District. This installation consists of a 10″ X 10″ X 4″ acrylic aquarium atop an overhead projector projecting a 15′ X 15′ image onto the courtyard wall. The live-action component of the installation features a performance by thirty photosynthetic jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) collected in the mangrove estuary near the Virginia Key Wastewater Treatment Plant, here in Miami, FL.

Still photo (above) of aquarium/ projection of our contribution to The Collabo Show, July 25, 2009; an installation dubbed ‘Cassiopeia 1’, featuring photosynthetic jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana) collected in the mangrove estuary near the Virginia Key Wastewater Treatment Plant, here in Miami, FL.

The brain coral (Diploria clivosa) colony pictured above featured several areas ranging in size from 3-6 cm that exhibited very unusual cauliflower-like tissue expansion with warty protuberances. The photo was taken offshore of South Beach, Miami, Florida.

Pictured above is the normal ‘meandroid’ growth form for the brain coral Diploria clivosa. The tissue is relatively compact against the skeleton and the tentacles are visible along the inner walls of the grooves.

We were disheartened to receive a call from our good friend Lauren Reskin, owner of Sweat Records, this past Sunday with the news that her store had been broken into, thieved, and trashed. The worst karmic act committed was the wanton destruction of the Red Sea Max that we installed and maintained as a gift to her store and our friends that frequented it. We set up the aquarium at the very end of November 2007 for the opening of Sweat’s third incarnation here in Miami.

According to the police, the thieves cut through the security gates of the store’s back entrance early Sunday morning and proceeded to steal the store’s computer, electronic equipment, several pieces of art from the walls and… knock over the aquarium.

This what we arrived to find (minus the live rock and corals that we had already gathered up by this point in our effort to revive what we could.

Sweat Records was closed on Sunday, so it wasn’t until almost 9 pm Sunday night that Lauren happened to be driving by her store and noticed the break in. It is likely that the contents of the aquarium were dry for over 18 hours.

We arrived at Sweat Records in a daze, unable to believe that someone would go through the trouble of destroying an aquarium just for the thrill of instant destruction, until we saw it with our own eyes. We were expecting the worst; that nothing could possibly still be alive.

All of the fish were dead. We hypothesize that the impact and subsequent shock-wave of the aquarium shattering against the floor must have killed them immediately as there was several inches of standing-water still on the floor that could have otherwise provided them with refuge.

However, there was some good news. Both of the harlequin serpent stars and a porcelain crab showed minimal signs of life, despite being nearly dry. When plopped into a plastic bag with water, they revived within a few minutes. The snails and blue leg hermit crabs all survived. We were initially highly skeptical that the Discosoma sp. corallimorphs would survive 18+ hours out of water, but we gathered up all of the pieces of live rock and brought them back to our facility anyhow. We didn’t want to put them into our holding or grow-out systems, as we were afraid that if they died as we expected, they would only foul the water. Instead, we placed them in two 18 gallon mortar tubs with heavy aeration and a power head and hoped for the best.

The severed arm of a harlequin serpent star is seen above. Fortunately, the serpent survived the ordeal and more than 18 hours out of water. It will regenerate this arm in short time. The fish weren’t so lucky.

To attest to the ruggedness of the Red Sea Max, the hood and even the light bulbs remained undamaged despite the brute force impact. Likewise, the RSM’s silver stand escaped even minor scratches despite landing face down. The two return pumps were the only other parts of the RSM beside the actual glass aquarium that had to be thrown out. Because the electrical cords never pulled out of the wall, they continued to run dry after the fall.  This caused them to overheat and melt together! The Current 1/10hp chiller managed to unplug itself and therefore survived with nary a blemish.

We were relieved the following morning to find that most of the corallimorphs were recovering nicely. Now, almost a week later, they have nearly made a complete recovery. We did lose a few polyps, but I’d estimate at least 80% survivorship.

Unfortunately, we did lose about half of the pink coralline algae from the live rock. Coralline algae does the most amazing thing when it dies; it fluoresces a bubble gum pink color. While temporarily beautiful, it soon turns to a dead white bleached state within a day or so. If anyone knows why this phenomenon occurs, please inform us. To lose this much coralline algae cover from your live rock after nearly a year of cultivation is a real bummer.

You can see a fluorescence photograph of the live rock below:

The dying pink crustose coralline algae fluoresces after death. The photograph was taken under blue wavelength (450 nm) light to maximize fluorescence. Several gold and green Discosoma sp. can also be seen fluorescing, despite 18 hours out of water.

While dismayed at losing this aquarium, and just as it was maturing into an exceptional little reef aquarium, we are not deterred. Sweat Records will be holding a series of benefit concerts in the next several weeks to help raise money for a better security system and a new aquarium. We hope to have another aquarium up and running by the time of Sweat’s first anniversary of being in their current location. We’ll keep you posted.

Here are a couple of articles written by local blogs about the break in:

Miami New Times

ARTLURKER

Today my good friend Carlos and I made a morning dive excursion off of Miami to visit the Neptune Memorial Reef. I had heard about this artificial reef quite a while ago when it had been originally proposed to simply be a “replica” of Atlantis. It seems that the goals of the project shifted towards a more realistic and profitable goal by becoming the world’s first underwater cemetery and memorial park. The first phase of construction was completed in November 2007, and I’ve been looking forward to taking a first-hand look ever since.

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To those in the 305 area code (786 too!), we’ll be leading the first edition of the Sweat Science Club. Get urself blinded by science!

For the past several months we have been working in conjunction with the marine science laboratory at the University of Miami and the UM Aquarium Club (UMAC) in the development of a 90-gallon Caribbean reef biotope in the marine science laboratory. The backstory as to how and why we got involved in this project is more or less as follows.

University of Miami MSC 90-Gallon around it’s heyday (2005-ish)
At that time, a mixed species reef aquarium.

Click to read “Part 1 of 90 Gallon Caribbean reef Biotope @ the University of Miami”…

Jared and I spent a really great day out on Biscayne Bay with our good friend Carlos. Carlos has a classic 25-foot Boston Whaler, aptly named “Slingshot”. No frills, just good boat. We had hoped to do an underwater photography mission on some local Miami reefs, but my camera kit acted up at the last second (figures), so we scrapped the shoot and enjoyed a day on the water instead. We cruised down south out of Coral Gables’, past ‘Mt. Trashmore’ (a huge stinking landfill), past the Turkey Point nuclear reactor, and then around the tip of Elliot Key, before heading back north along the ocean side of the Keys.

We saw several solitary dolphin jumping and quite a number of Portuguese man-o-war ‘jellyfish’. These animals aren’t true jellyfish, but are actually a colony of tiny hydroid-like polyps called siphonophores, that link together in long, powerfully stinging tentacles. I’m not sure exactly how the colony is able to produce the gas-filled float that allows it to catch the breezes, perhaps someone else can educate me there. Maybe these creatures know something…

The most noticeable thing about being out on the water in Biscayne Bay is just how much bigger the Miami skyline has gotten in the past 8 years from when I first arrived in the MIA. It’s pretty impressive looking now, but I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen to all those new, vacant condo high rises what with the real estate bubble all but imploded. Even the buildings that are recently completed seem mostly unoccupied. You can look up the whole front of a building, and see not one piece of deck furniture, or any other piece of evidence suggesting that it is otherwise occupied. And even still, they are breaking ground on new buildings, even in the wake of the obvious real estate market crash. The wild card for Miami though, is whether the declining dollar will bring in a bunch of buyers from Europe and South America who want a Club Land getaway residence. I think that this would be preferable, in that these buyers would probably be a lot less reliant upon the city’s unprepared infrastructure. I don’t think that downtown Miami is capable of supporting the population increase that would come with permanent residents living and working in the area. In any case, from out on the water, the city looks Magic.