Scientists try to save coral micro species

U.S. scientists have launched a project in Puerto Rico designed to save threatened microscopic species.The Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo recently acquired 12,000 microscopic Elkhorn coral larvae harvested by zoo scientists as part of an international collaborative program to save the species. The researchers hope to return the animals, once they are grown, to their wild ocean habitat.Zoo reproductive scientist Mary Hagedorn and invertebrate keeper Mike Henley traveled to Puerto Rico last month with to collect and artificially inseminate coral. Hagedorn is pioneering the cyropreservation of coral sperm and eggs, trying to create a genome resource bank that will help preserve the genetic diversity of coral.Hagedorn, Henley and the team captured spawning coral gametes in nets during night dives, transferring them to a beach laboratory for research and artificial insemination."Conservation of a delicate underwater species is always a challenge," said Hagedorn, "We achieved some important milestones this year, including learning more about the larvae rearing process, and we were able to cryopreserve the endangered coral sperm."Given more research, this technique may become instrumental in helping re-establish healthy coral populations in the Caribbean."