{"id":32736,"date":"2026-08-19T13:55:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=32736"},"modified":"2026-08-29T05:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T09:32:06","slug":"coral-torpedo-starts-42-new-colonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/coral-torpedo-starts-42-new-colonies\/32736\/","title":{"rendered":"NOAA loaded living corals into a homemade \u201ctorpedo,\u201d dropped it 217 feet through the Gulf, and divers waiting below used the delivery to start 42 new colonies on concrete domes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the spring of 2026, a team based on a NOAA research vessel located in the Gulf of Mexico did something never attempted before.<\/p>\n

Living corals were placed inside a transparent cylindrical container<\/strong> (in torpedo form) and sent to the ocean floor at 217 ft.<\/p>\n

Divers used specialized equipment to reach the bottom, where they extracted the contents from the container.<\/p>\n

The corals were then transferred to concrete dome-shaped structures anchored to the seafloor. When the work was completed, the team had established 42 new coral colonies.<\/p>\n

In comments to The Pulse<\/em><\/strong>, NOAA\u2019s Southeast Fisheries Science Center highlighted the significant resources devoted to the project and how it is helping scientists better understand coral ecosystems.<\/p>\n

The spill reached deeper than the surface<\/h2>\n

Transporting living creatures to those depths is difficult.<\/p>\n

As depth increases, pressure rises and water temperatures decrease<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Scientists are working to minimize stress to the corals during transport.<\/p>\n

Sixteen years ago, an estimated 4 million barrels of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico due to a blowout of a well drilled by BP. Oil slicks extended beyond the horizon and impacted<\/strong> shallow and deeper waters, including coral habitats and communities.<\/p>\n

These areas support fish and marine mammals that humans rely on.<\/p>\n

Scientists classify these corals as living in the “mid-light” zone<\/strong>, an area that receives limited sunlight.<\/p>\n

It is not completely dark, but only dim.<\/p>\n

Scientists believe the 2010 oil spill injured extensive areas of this zone. These impacts were compounded by chemical dispersants<\/strong> used to break up the oil slicks.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image of a Swiftia exserta coral on the seafloor – Credits: NOAA\/Dave Witting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/h2>\n

A bettermethod to reach the seafloor <\/h2>\n

The previous method of using a coral elevator<\/span> worked<\/strong>, but this new method provided a more efficient way to get corals to the seafloor<\/p>\n

NOAA Fisheries<\/a> reports that federal agencies and cooperating organizations have been working to restore injured mesophotic and deep corals since they finalized the restoration plan in 2019.<\/p>\n

These corals grow slowly, and transporting healthy colonies to the seafloor without damage is difficult. Corals cannot simply be dropped from a boat<\/strong> and expected to land near existing structures.<\/p>\n

Earlier efforts used a large platform suspended by ropes and dropped from ships. Once the platform reached the seafloor, remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) or divers placed the corals on structures.<\/p>\n

Fisheries biologist Chris Gardner developed an innovative method called the “Coral Torpedo,” a lightweight plastic tube with a unique hydrodynamic design.<\/p>\n

This system functions much like a banking pneumatic tube<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Corals are loaded into the tube at the surface and then once on the bottom, divers transplant the corals into their designated habitat.<\/p>\n

The tubes are lightweight and streamlined, allowing them to quickly travel to the bottom<\/strong> and reducing the amount of time spent in transit.<\/p>\n

The goal of the coral torpedo was to develop a system capable of rapidly delivering corals to the seafloor while keeping them submerged in cold water similar to bottom temperatures. Researchers also needed a way to place the corals at specific locations, according to another report from NOAA Fisheries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A large Muricea pendula coral on the seafloor – Credits: NOAA\/Dave Witting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What the 42 new colonies actually are<\/h2>\n

Divers used closed-circuit rebreathers that allowed longer dives<\/strong> by recirculating air.<\/p>\n

The dive to the bottom is short.<\/p>\n

The return is much slower because divers must repeatedly stop at different depths for 5-10 minutes at a time. These stops help prevent decompression sickness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A hyperbaric doctor monitored the divers after they returned onboard.<\/p>\n

The corals placed on the concrete domes belonged to three species of deep-sea corals<\/a>: Swiftia exserta<\/em>, Muricea pendula<\/em>, and Thesea nivea<\/em>.<\/p>\n

26 were grown in laboratories prior to being transplanted to the domes. The remaining 16 were moved from a nearby reef to start new colonies on the domes.<\/p>\n

All three species are native to the upper-middle light zone<\/strong> of the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n

Why 42 colonies on concrete domes actually matter<\/h3>\n

If these coral colonies establish themselves and begin growing, they will demonstrate how restoration efforts can be effective in mesophotic and deep- water environments<\/p>\n

This effort relied on a significant amount of resources<\/strong> that were supported by the Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group If the colonies cannot sustain themselves, the effort will have failed.<\/p>\n

The same thing is already happening in the North Sea, where endangered fish moved into steel turbine bases<\/a> and turned an industrial site into a reef.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the spring of 2026, a team based on a NOAA research vessel located in the Gulf of Mexico did something never attempted before. Living corals were placed inside a transparent cylindrical container (in torpedo form) and sent to the ocean floor at 217 ft. Divers used specialized equipment to reach the bottom, where they … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":32929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"coral,torpedo","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"NOAA used a torpedo-shaped delivery system to transport living corals to the Gulf seafloor, where divers established 42 new colonies on concrete domes.","footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}