Protect Our Reefs

Science in action 🧪🦀

Through a Florida DEP-funded project, the Grazers Lab in Mote’s Coral Reef Restoration Research Program is taking a closer look at the optimal conditions to raise stronger, healthier Caribbean king crabs (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) for reef restoration.

At both Mote’s International Center for Coral Reef Research & Restoration on Summerland Key and Mote’s Florida Coral Reef Restoration Crab Hatchery Research Center in Sarasota, scientists are comparing how seawater source and system type (flow-through vs. recirculating) impact crab growth and survival. By tracking individual juveniles from multiple clutches, the team is building detailed growth models—recording daily molts, growth rates, and survival to better understand how these crabs develop over time.

To take it a step further, juvenile crabs are even swapped between locations to see how they perform in each system. Researchers are also testing whether individual care improves outcomes for young crabs.

All of this helps answer one big question: what conditions produce the best grazers for our reefs? The goal is to optimize aquaculture practices and scale up efforts to restock Florida’s Coral Reef with this essential algae-eating species. 🪸✨

All work is conducted under permits from FWC and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and funded by NOAA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

📸: Marina Pham