A study to determine whether pillar coral should be added to the endangered species list and protected instead found they have gone "functionally extinct." Now scientists are racing to breed new colonies in a rescue project at the Florida Aquarium.
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Images of a pillar coral colony between April 2019 and February 2020 shows the precipitous decline caused by stony coral tissue disease.
When pillar coral was proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act, coral biologists began a survey and assessment of all known colonies on the Florida reef tract. That was in 2013.
They found and followed more than 800 colonies of the coral, from the Dry Tortugas to Biscayne National Park.
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