Florida Reefs Are In Trouble. Is The Answer Coral From The Caribbean?

"MIAMI — Off the northern coast of Honduras, thick stands of endangered elkhorn coral have mysteriously defied warming oceans fueled by climate change to blanket the reef with healthy, cocoa-brown colonies branching toward the water’s surface like antlers.

Reefs near the small colonial town of Tela have more than three times the amount of live coral found elsewhere across the Caribbean.

Now scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School hope to unlock that secret and crossbreed the sturdier coral with Florida elkhorn as they work to buy more time for a shrinking reef battered by rising ocean temperatures and disease."

Jenny Staletovich reports for NPR June 22, 2024.