coral

Developing medicines gives scientists tools to save sick corals and can help preserve threatened ecosystems.

Florida's barrier reef has lost 95% of its coral over the last half-century. Researchers, activists and government agencies are working to restore the reefs and ensure their long-term survival.

Dalton Hesley led a dive team to an offshore Miami Beach reef last month in pursuit of sea urchins. Something else drew his attention instead. A cluster of staghorn corals, their branches reaching toward the surface, appeared a ghastly white.

Seawalls, despite more natural innovations like “living” shorelines, aren’t going anywhere in Florida — except up.

Finding the disease persisting in ocean sand means dredging, hurricanes and other things that stir up the ocean floor can spread the disease.

In a paper published Wednesday, scientists from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School and Chicago's Shedd Aquarium explained how, for the first time, they located hardier heat-tolerant coral on Florida's reef.

Florida wild corals rescued from disease spent a year in Orlando gaining health and are now at a New Jersey aquarium for long-term care.

Almost 2,000 corals have been pulled out of Florida’s waters and quarantined in aquariums around the country.

The new research found corals infected with the disease in a lab, and compared to healthy corals from the same genotype, had an immune response. It's a new discovery that could lead to better detection of the disease before it's too late.

A study to determine whether pillar coral should be added to the endangered species list and protected instead found they have gone "functionally extinct." Now scientists are racing to breed new colonies in a rescue project at the Florida Aquarium.

The deep sea sponges are also found in the Caribbean, containing centuries of records about ocean changes. But collecting them has been hard.

Federal officials approved a new rule to protect deep-sea coral hotspots in the Gulf of Mexico through restrictions on some fishing gear in areas where they thrive. Some locations are off of the Florida coast.