In 2015, Hawaii rescued fragments of a coral found only in Kaneohe Bay; after its wild colonies...

Acropora muricata, Heron Island, Australia. (Photo Credit: Claire Lager, Smithsonian) A rare coral species found nowhere else on Earth except Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii has been successfully returned to its natural habitat after completely disappearing from the wild. The recovery project was led by the Hawaii Coral Restoration Nursery, a facility run by the state Division of Aquatic Resources. In 2015, marine biologists rescued surviving pieces of knobby finger coral (Porites compressa variant / rare Hawaiian endemic strains) from Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu. They placed the fragments in a special living collection known as the Rare Hawaiian Coral Ark. Soon after the emergency collection was completed, natural colonies of the rare coral disappeared completely from the wild reef because of heat-related bleaching events and storm damage. Details published by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and reported by Hawaii Civil Beat show how scientists used land-based methods to grow the rescued coral fragments before returning mature colonies to Kaneohe Bay.Land-based nursery speeds up coral growthThe Hawaii Coral Restoration Nursery, established in 2015 at the Anuenue Fi...