Coral and the hunt for a cure

Coral reefs are sometimes called the rainforests of the oceans and support an estimated 25 % of all known marine species, but they, and the sponges that inhabit them, are unusually susceptible to changes in the waters and the local microbial community. Coral bleaching is just one of the negative effects of a changing world. However, teams from a Brazilian University have launched a project to learn more about the bacteria from different regions and different species. They hope to produce a probiotic cocktail and help troubled ecosystems to recover. But before the team could embark on the mission to cure the world’s coral, the samples needed to be collected. And that meant offshore, deep-water operations onboard the Fugro Aquarius.