Coral larvae are picky about where they attach and settle down. One of the ways they decide is by “smelling” chemicals in the water that are associated with healthy reefs. 

Now, researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Jacobs School of Engineering have developed a gel using nano-particles that slowly releases some of coral larvae’s favorite “smells.” When the researchers applied the gel, called SNAP-X, to surfaces in lab experiments it increased coral larvae settlement by up to 20 times compared to untreated surfaces. SNAP-X could help overcome a major bottleneck in reef restoration efforts at a time when climate change is hammering coral habitats. The gel is applied to surfaces as a coating and releases the coral-attracting chemicals for up to a month. 

Image: Francesco Ungaro, Unsplash