Synthetic pheromones may protect coral reefs by attracting their sea star predators to a designated area for mass removal.

As immobile animals, corals and the organisms that live on them have evolved a suite of chemical compounds to prevent disease and ward off predators they cannot outrun.

Inside Australia's National Sea Simulator, scientists are cross-breeding coral species and using CRISPR to genetically engineer heat-resistant corals to withstand warming reefs worldwide.

Through coral IVF, researchers have collected coral eggs and sperm from healthy reefs, grown baby corals in lab pools, and then released them to help repopulate damaged or lost reefs.

Over 1 million fish, marine mammals, and invertebrate species depend on coral reefs for habitats, camouflage, and food.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—photosynthetic algae that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

During coral bleaching, corals sacrifice their food source and expel colorful microorganisms to protect themselves, a phenomenon that resembles an organism's immune system attacking itself.

Some corals absorb harmful ultraviolet radiation and re-emit it as visible light, thereby protecting symbiotic algae within their tissues and providing them with energy for photosynthesis.

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

When diving and snorkeling in environments containing reefs, avoid touching reefs, anchoring on them, or using sunscreen with active ingredients harmful to marine life.

Coral reefs are built by thousands of coral polyps—tiny animals whose mouths both consume food and expel waste.

Coral polyps reproduce via broadcast spawning, where entire reefs simultaneously release reproductive cells for about one hour, once a year.

In 2024, a survey of Japanese beaches uncovered plasticorals—a material in which melted plastic entered the pores of and mechanically fused to coral skeletons.

By targeting a diverse range of sick and injured marine life, sharks—a type of predatory keystone species—help keep ocean gene pools healthy and promote biodiversity by keeping prey species in check.

Fungi have been used to restore island habitats in the central Pacific

The concept of keystone species—organisms that have disproportionately large impacts on their ecosystems—was discovered through studies of purple sea stars in Pacific tidepools.

Research has found that when their symbiotic algae are not producing oxygen via photosynthesis, corals twirl hairlike structures to circulate water and draw oxygen into their outer tissues.

Deep water corals—located throughout the world's ocean basins at depths beyond 200 meters (660 feet)—slowly build small coral gardens in the dark with the help of underwater worms.

Stony corals form a type of calcium carbonate called aragonite from ions brought to the ocean by rivers that have broken down terrestrial rocks.

Climate change threatens coral reefs by disrupting the symbiotic relationship between corals and algae due to rising ocean temperatures.

The first coral reefs formed hundreds of millions of years ago from the carbonate skeletons deposited by hard corals.

Biofluorescent animals—those that absorb light, such as ultraviolet rays, and re-emit other types of light, such as neon green—include some flying squirrels, scorpions, sea turtles, and platypuses.

Decommissioned oil rigs have been repurposed into artificial reefs that serve as nursery habitats for fish, corals, sponges, and other invertebrates in the decades since their installation.

Some female fireflies mimic the signals of other species to lure in and eat them

To fight invasive species, some people have harvested them to produce useful materials that can be sold for a profit.

Some algae have helped remove microplastics from water after being bioengineered to clump together with these contaminants, forming an easily collectible microplastic-algae sludge.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that US commercial and recreational fisheries valued at $200M depend on coral reefs, which provide up to $1.8B in flood protection by absorbing 97% of wave energy.

Watch a time-lapse of staghorn coral polyps—a type of hard coral—over several weeks in an aquarium, slowly forming the foundational component of a coral reef.

Synthetic biology can prevent extinction by creating create disease-resilient plants and animals

Watch a diving expedition through the world's longest coral colony, which spans more than a football field and whose exact location is kept secret for its protection.

While invasive species typically harm ecosystems by outcompeting native organisms for resources, some provide unexpected benefits, including new shelters, nesting habitats, and reduced environmental heat stress.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

The most effective method of managing invasive species is prevention education

Scientists have found that the Great Barrier Reef's microbiome includes an estimated 362,802 distinct viruses and 876 distinct bacterial and archaeal species—584 of which had never been documented before 2026.

From 2023 to 2025, coral reefs experienced their fourth global bleaching event and the largest such event through 2025.

An analysis of fossilized reefs from northern Africa and Germany suggests that shallow water corals and photosynthetic algae formed the mutualistic partnership seen today between 419 and 359 million years ago.

Plastic debris across the ocean aids the spread of invasive species

View a collection of glass sculptures of corals threatened by fishing and deep-sea mining.

About 76% of global coral species are found in the Coral Triangle—a region spanning the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.

Forever chemicals accumulate up the food web, with recent research indicating that apex predators have higher concentrations because they're eating prey that also have accumulated the substances.

The three types of coral reefs—fringing, barrier, and atoll—are categorized by where they form.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Odor blockers use nonpolar oils to trap smelly polar molecules

Starting with red, colorful objects will appear to lose their colors the deeper they are submerged because water scatters light, reducing the amount available to reflect off objects and be observed.

Explore a map of coral reefs around the world and the extent of coral bleaching.

Spiders may manipulate captured male fireflies into mimicking female mating signals

View illustrations of bioluminescent functions in marine organisms

Because it is observed in organisms that are not closely related, biofluorescence is thought to have emerged independently many times in nature—over 100 in fish alone.

A remote Scottish island is awash in forever chemicals even though there are no obvious industrial sources nearby, and scientists suspect the toxic substances are accumulating via sea spray.

Since the Industrial Revolution, surface ocean waters have become 30% more acidic due to the absorption of carbon dioxide.