For the first time in Europe, coral researchers have successfully fertilised coral eggs using frozen and thawed sperm. Spectacular images of the coral spawning are shedding new light on the role cryopreservation is playing in advancing coral restoration efforts.
When corals spawn, they release tiny bundles of eggs and sperm into the water. To become fertilised, each egg bundle must find a sperm bundle from the same species. A team at the Horniman Museum in London recreated this process in tanks in the lab, replicating water temperatures and the rising and setting of both the sun and moon each day to trick the corals…