Science4Reefs

Aujourd’hui, à l’occasion de la journée internationale des femmes et des filles de science, nous mettons à l’honneur celles qui œuvrent pour les récifs coralliens. 🪸

Women4reefs, c’est un mouvement qui soutient, valorise et rassemble les femmes engagées pour l’océan.

Parce que protéger les récifs, c’est aussi rendre visibles celles qui les defendent. 💪🏽

Rejoins le mouvement 🩵🌊

🤎 Hello! I’m Psammocora stellata! 🤎🌊

Never heard of me? That’s okay, I’m a modest brown coral, living in Moorea and across French Polynesia. I might not be flashy, but I play a big role in keeping reef diversity alive! 🌿🐠

I’m almost never grown in nurseries, so being part of the Coral Diversity Project is kind of a big deal. And hey, I’m over two years old and growing strong… not bad for a humble coral like me! 💪✨

Have you heard about coral shading?🪸☂️

2024’s marine heatwave hit our nurseries hard:
➡️ About 50% of our coral fragments bleached in unshaded conditions. Some species were so sensitive that every single fragment bleached.
💡So we tried something simple:
We added shade: cutting light by ~90%.
And the results?
✨63% of the corals that would have bleached stayed healthy under shade.
✨ In some sensitive species, shading even prevented bleaching entirely.
✨ When corals still bleached, they recovered faster.
✨ Overall, shading reduced mortality by three times.
Why does shading help?
When water gets too warm, light, which is normally good for corals, becomes an extra stressor.
By lowering light, we remove one source of stress, helping corals tolerate more heat before bleaching.
🪸This shows that shading nurseries for a few months during heatwaves can act like artificial refuges, protecting biodiversity and helping restoration projects survive future warming.
These results are part of PhD, stay tuned for more interesting results!

behind the lens 📸🙏

Meet the macrofluo reef 🪸✨

Leptastrea in the spotlight! ✨
Captured by 📸

Leptastrea glows in deep greens and subtle blues, with tightly packed polyps and fine textures that give it a calm, mosaic-like appearance. Its small polyps hold fluorescent pigments that help manage intense light, protect its symbiotic algae, and cope with thermal stress. Growing slowly over a dense skeleton, Leptastrea is built for endurance, thriving quietly as reefs shift and change. A subtle survivor of the reef, glowing steadily beneath the waves 🌊💚💙

🌴☀️🐳🐟🐠

Say hello to Acanthastrea echinata💚🪸

I am one of the coolest encrusting corals in the reef world! 🐠💚 Like come on, zoom the photo and watch those greenish colors😍

With big, chubby polyps (almost 1 cm!), a skeleton lined with tiny “teeth” 👀🦷 and a vibrant green glow that makes me stand out from my cousins… I am straight-up reef royalty 👑🌊

And guess what?
It’s the first time they’re trying to grow me in French Polynesia! 🇵🇫
I may grow slowly, but trust me… I’m worth the wait. 😉

💚✨ Reef vibes, ocean magic, and a little touch of attitude, that’s me, A. echinata.

behind the 📸

Ever heard of coral microfragmentation? It’s like giving corals a superhero power: grow faster by going smaller! 💥🪸

So… why all the slicing? 🔬✂️
When corals are cut into tiny pieces, they switch into rapid wound-healing mode, producing new tissue up to 25× faster than normal. Their edges expand quickly and can even fuse with neighboring microfragments, forming a larger, healthier colony faster than nature could do alone. ⚡️🧬

After cutting, each piece is fixed onto plugs and moved into our nursery systems, where stable conditions help them:
✔ Heal faster
✔ Avoid algae competition
✔ Grow into strong colonies ready for outplanting

We’ve been testing this technique with 12 SPS species across 10 genera (from Acropora cynthus to Syphastrea), cutting each mother colony into:
🔹 3 microfragments
🔹 3 traditional fragments

Once fixed onto plugs, they head to our coral nurseries to heal, grow and prepare for life back on the reef. 🌱🌊

And here’s where it gets really interesting… 👇

🌱Survival: both techniques performed equally well
🌱 Growth: traditional fragments grew faster overall, but species like Porites, Montipora, Leptastrea, Pavona, and Pocillopora (at 30 m!) matched or exceeded microfragments in certain conditions.

Mauruuru for the amazing work behind the camera 📸

This shows that fragmentation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Techniques need to be adapted depending on:
• the coral genus,
• whether it’s branching, encrusting, or massive,
• and the depth they naturally thrive at.

Tiny cuts, big science, and even bigger hope for reef recovery 💙🪸

Meet the macrofluo reef🪸✨

Favites on the spotlight! ✨Captured by 📸

Favites glow in soft greens and purples, with maze-like walls and round little bumps that give them an alien, puzzle-like look. The bigger polyps store more glowing pigments, helping the coral soften bright sunlight, stay cool, and protect their algae when temperatures rise. With a thick skeleton, they grow steadily and stay strong even on changing reefs. A quiet powerhouse of the reef, glowing gently through it all 🌊💚💜

✨ We’re launching a new Q&A series for 2026! ✨

Do you have questions about corals, the ocean or marine conservation?

🌊 Ocean questions?
🪸 Coral curiosities?
👀 Marine mysteries?

👇 Drop your questions in the comments

We’ll be answering them throughout 2026 in this new series! 🌊🐠

✨ Before the year ends, we want to hear from you! ✨

Got ocean questions? 🌊
Coral curiosities? 🪸
Marine mysteries? 👀
Any ocean doubts or intriguing facts you’ve always wondered about? 🐠

👇 Drop your questions in the comments
We’ll be answering them throughout 2026!
Let’s begin this new year learning together!💪📝