According to a study published February 26 in the journal Nature Communications, about 25 percent of coral reef’s health is dependent on sea cucumbers that keep the reefs clean. [Related ...

Now, new evidence points to an ally for the coral reef: a little creature called the sea cucumber. The words coral reef evoke a riot of color and life, but the ecosystems are disappearing due to a ...

The reasoning, says Clements, is that sea cucumbers are like "these little vacuum cleaners on the reef that are cleaning things up," digesting and eliminating microbes that can lead to coral ...

One affected species is the red gorgonian (Paramuricea clavata), also known as the violescent sea-whip, a soft coral species known to “engineer” the local ecosystem by creating three ...

But more than a decade of mapping and exploration "revealed one of the largest deep-sea coral reef habitats found to date anywhere in the world," NOAA Ocean Exploration operations chief Kasey ...

discovered several coral terpene synthases and thoroughly elucidated the catalytic mechanism of a biflorane synthase, PcTS1.

This image provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in April 2024 shows bioluminescence in the sea whip coral Funiculina sp. observed under red light in a laboratory. Most animals ...

Every year, especially when the strong winds whip up the sea in November and December ... the island’s edge with rocks, pilings and coral, but seawater keeps coming. “Lately, I’ve seen ...

Under the bright blue water of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea, the view is stunning. Expansive coral reefs teeming with life; colorful fish and invertebrates. But something crucial has gone ...

South of Tampa Bay, in Florida, wedged between a quiet neighborhood and a mangrove forest, custom-designed aquariums are home to thousands of sea-urchin ... moment, coral reefs in the Caribbean ...

The particular species of sea urchin impacted is a well-known protector of coral reefs and the deaths put the already fragile reef ecosystem in even more peril. Sign up here. The pandemic was ...