How Freezing Coral Sperm Could Save Our Reefs

Scientist Mary Hagedorn is racing to save marine life through cryobiology

Kim Steutermann Rogers
OneZero
Published in
5 min readNov 20, 2018

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For the first time, scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) have successfully cryopreserved (or frozen) and thawed coral larvae from the mushroom coral (Fungia scutaria). Photo: The Smithsonian

For six weeks over this past summer, Mary Hagedorn waited on the island of Curaçao for the one night a year that elkhorn coral — a large branching coral that resembles elk antlers — spawn. Finally, as summer spilled into September, the environmentally threatened…

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Kim Steutermann Rogers
OneZero

I am a writer covering science nature in Hawaii. Currently, I’m working with Kauai Invasive Species Committee to save ohia, Hawaii’s native tree.