The Astroides calycularis coral is popularly known as orange coral, orange coral or star coral and is one of the few endemic corals in the Mediterranean. Living in these waters is not easy, especially due to the various threats caused by humans and their activities.
With the aim of improving scientific knowledge and the protection of this species of coral, Imagin, the digital services and lifestyle platform promoted by CaixaBank, has presented this week in Almuñécar (Granada) a specific project in collaboration with the Asociación Hombre y Territorio (HyT), a non-profit organization with 20 years of experience in the study and conservation of the natural environment. The objective of the project is, specifically, "to contribute to the recovery of orange coral in the Mediterranean Sea through the program for the conservation and restoration of corals MedCoral.
Imagin's alliance with HyT has the advice of Blue Carbon, a project aimed at protecting the sea, reducing CO₂ emissions and mitigating the climate emergency, and which has already worked together with the digital platform in the installation of floating marine litter bins (seabins) in Spanish ports for the collection of waste and plastics from the water.
In 2022, this collaboration made it possible to launch up to 9 'imagin seabins', which have removed 21 tons of plastic from the sea. Imagin has a firm commitment to sustainability and promotes a broad program of actions in support of the protection of forests, the conservation of seas and oceans and social transformation. By 2023, helping corals recover will become the main axis of Imagin's plan to generate a positive impact on the environment. In this sense, the collaboration with HyT and MedCoral will mean strengthening an innovative marine regeneration project that already has an action point in the Acantilados de Maro-Cerro Gordo Natural Area, between the provinces of Malaga and Granada.
In the presentation of the project, representatives of Imagin and HyT explained the details of this collaboration and participated in a visit to an area of the artificial reef that exists off the coast of Almuñécar, where four orange coral gardens have already been generated. , equivalent to 60,000 coral units.
The addition of Imagin to the project will be essential for the study, monitoring and maintenance of these first gardens, in charge of the HyT scientific team, as well as for the possible creation of new regeneration areas, soon.
The orange coral Astroides calycularis is an endemic species of the Mediterranean Sea, that is, it lives exclusively in this area of the planet. Currently, it is threatened due to pollution, the increase in sea temperature and the proliferation of invasive exotic species, such as the Asian brown alga Rugulopteryx okamurae, which has been advancing very expansively through the Spanish Mediterranean since 2016.
However, it is possible to carry out actions that help to maintain existing populations and favor their connectivity. In fact, the HyT MedCoral Program has spent 15 years developing actions for the knowledge, conservation and protection of corals, and has generated techniques to generate small populations in an environment in which they can survive, thanks to which high rates of survival are obtained. success. These complementary techniques are already being applied in the natural area of Maro-Cerro Gordo: on the one hand, colonies detached from the natural environment are rescued and recovered, which, once detached, will not survive.
On the other hand, it is possible to help the orange coral larvae to establish themselves in a favorable place and create new colonies: this is what is called "gardens". It must be taken into account that the sexual reproduction of the orange coral takes place only once a year and under very particular conditions, related to the lunar phase and the water temperature. When the indicated conditions are met, sexual reproduction occurs and, after a period of time, the fertilized females expel thousands of larvae into the environment, although with a low probability of survival.
For this reason, the HyT team of biologists collects a part of these released larvae and sows them in the appropriate area. In 2023, the moment of reproduction has taken place recently, on the last full moon, and the larvae have been collected and "seed" in the work area, an artificial reef located in the Natural Area. The project has started successfully and these first four gardens already exist, which, from now on, will have to consolidate and grow. The contribution of Imagin and its users, in this sense, will be essential.
The interest in orange coral is not only related to supporting the survival of the species, but also to its characteristics as a driver of marine biodiversity. The existence of colonies of this animal attracts other animals and contributes to the richness of the ecosystem.
