Coral City Camera – World Record Underwater Coral Growth Timelapse *1,000 Days* (5.1.23-1.28.26)
We are proud to unveil the world’s longest underwater timelapse, starting May 1st 2023 and running 1,000 days through January 28, 2026. This period covers summer 2023’s unprecedented coral bleaching mortality event, and indeed multiple corals can be seen bleaching, but then recovering and growing through 2024 and 2025 into 2026.
Watch 30fps and 60fps versions of the above 10fps timelapse here and here.
Of greatest interest to us is the success and proliferation of the urban strain of staghorn coral native to PortMiami (Acropora cervicornis aka ACER ‘Ventura’). Not only did it not bleach, but has grown swiftly. In just four years, a single branch of ACER ‘Ventura’ has increased thousands of times in biomass, to the point that we now have one of the densest thickets of this endangered coral in the State of Florida!
Just in the past six months, these corals have endured significant extremes in temperature. With our new Aqualink buoy, we recorded late summer temps reaching 90F (32.6C) and recent 2026 winter lows of 60F (15.5C). This represents a huge range of thermal tolerance for this strain of critically important reefbuilding coral, and a reminder that corals grown for nearshore reef restoration in Florida need cold-stress adaptation as well as heat-stress.
Working with our partners at NOAA AOML and University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef, we continue our scientific investigation into the mechanisms of the strain’s resilience, and continue to amplify it for the purpose of restoring Miami’s nearshore reefs.
Of particular interest is observing how dynamic the sediment is at the site. PortMiami is subject to intense currents, magnified by passing ships displacing huge volumes of water. Despite these unnatural conditions, the corals and fish have adapted well to this anthropogenic environment.
Our ability to timelapse the growth of PortMiami’s urban corals highlights the scientific value of the Coral City Camera and its ability to document what was previously undocumented. After 6 years of near-continuous recording, and nearly 220 species of fish cataloged, there is no underwater coral reef site anywhere in the world that has been as thoroughly recorded and archived!
If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation to support the Coral City Camera you can do so here via our fund at the Key Biscayne Community Foundation: