Corals are the trees in the rainforests of the sea. They’re also animals, and they’re disappearing at an alarming rate due to a multitude of anthropomorphic stressors. Despite a global effort to save these vanishing ecosystems, in my eight years as a coral restoration biologist, There was one question I would receive that tended to repeat itself. “So what the heck are corals anyway?” With one person asking “Aren’t they just slimy rocks?”
Little did I know, several years later, this conversation would help guide the title of my TEDx Saint Thomas talk.
There are several wonderful TED and TEDx talks about why and how to save corals from disappearing, however basically none of these focus on what a coral is. To change this I began photographing portraits of corals against a black backdrop, utilizing the corals from a coral restoration nursery at the Mote Marine Laboratory in the Florida Keys. The goal of these portraits was to transport the viewer into the fascinating and intricate world of coral animals, unlike the typical reef shots where corals play a secondary role to sharks, turtles, or other megafauna with faces.
coral budding
Just as all trees start from a single seed, all corals start from a single polyp.
Eventually this polyp begins to clone itself through a process called budding.
Finally the polyp splits into two, creating a coral colony. This process can happen hundreds of thousands of times on some of the largest corals.
coral battles
The tamest of coral battles look like a slow motion shoving match as one coral attempts to overgrow the other.
The green tentacled Knobby Brain Coral on the right starts to over grow its conspecific.
This Great Star Coral polyp with its tentacles extended has a secret weapon (next photo).
Freakishly long sweeper tentacles extend past their normal tentacles at times when a coral wants to explore its surroundings or attack a neighboring coral that grows too close.
As a last resort, corals can expel their guts, and digest a neighbors exterior tissue. The Lobed Star Coral (right) attacks a Great Star Coral (left)
Polyps from a Lobed Star Coral (right), expel their guts to digest it’s neighboring Great Star Coral (left)
To view more images from Corals Are Not Slimy Rocks, visit the coral portraits gallery
recent publications
two-page spread in Oceanus Magazine - Vol. 57, No. 1, Summer 2022
I am currently exploring options for turning the Corals Are Not Slimy Rocks project into a gallery on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Several of these images were published in the 2022 book, The Secret Lives of Coral, written by Dr. David Vaughan.