eDNA System Enables Efficient Detection of Nearly All Reef-Building Coral Genera in Japan

eDNA system enables efficient detection of nearly all reef-building coral genera in Japan

Just a few meters beneath the clear, blue waters of Okinawa, reef-building corals known as Scleractinia have quietly lived for centuries. Slowly, layer by layer, they have constructed intricate, rigid structures made of calcium carbonate to form the vibrant coral reefs of today.

A single species of coral can form many different forms. So far it has been unclear how and why. A team of physicists and biologists may have cracked the puzzle.