ORLANDO, Fla. – Walk into SeaWorld Florida’s Coral Rescue Center, and the first thing you notice is the light - a deep, oceanic blue that washes over rows of tanks filled with some of the rarest coral on Earth.
It’s not an accident.
“The coral in the environment usually live around 50 to 60 feet of water depth,” said Justin Zimmerman, Aquarium Supervisor at SeaWorld Florida and the Florida Coral Rescue Center (FCRC). “That depth filters out a lot of the reds and yellows. So the blue wavelength is actually the strongest. It penetrates deepest.”
The center opened roughly three years ago as part of a broader state-led response to a devastating outbreak of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, which began spreading near Miami about five years ago and swept through the Florida Keys.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission moved quickly - collecting healthy coral colonies ahead of the advancing disease line - then distributing them to 18 zoos and aquariums across the state. Once a coral became infected, there was about a 90% chance it would not survive.
“They really went out there and rescued these corals from this disease,” Zimmerman said.
That partnership is formally known as the Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project. The participating facilities serve as a living gene bank, preserving many of the 22 coral species affected by the disease and working to grow and return them to the ocean.
The center currently houses around 1,000 baby corals in various stages of growth. The goal is to eventually produce tens of thousands.
“Some of our partners have already put back 10,000 corals,” Zimmerman said. “They’re doing that almost year over year. So if all the partners could eventually grow those numbers, we could really make a difference in the number of corals in the Florida Keys.”
Last year alone, SeaWorld delivered more than 4 million baby coral larvae to partner institutions - including Mote Marine Laboratory, the University of Miami and the Smithsonian - where they are grown to a plantable size of about three centimeters before being returned to the reef.
The facility also made history as part of the first team to successfully spawn the rough cactus coral, making it the first facility in the world to achieve that milestone.
Some of the corals under SeaWorld’s care are in critical condition - not just as a species, but as populations.
The pillar coral was once iconic in the Florida Keys. Today, scientists believe there may be more pillar corals in human care than in the entire Florida Reef Tract.
“Scientists call it functionally extinct,” Zimmerman said. “It’s not completely extinct in the wild, but it’s not reproductive. So it just shows you the importance.”
SeaWorld now holds more than 20 genetically unique colonies of the pillar coral, all maintained as brood stock under the Endangered Species Act’s highest level of protection.
The elkhorn and staghorn corals - the branching, tree-like species often seen in dive photography - have fared even worse. A mass bleaching event in 2023 and the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease have left both species functionally extinct in the lower Florida Keys.
The 10 tanks inside the center - each about 300 gallons and measuring 8 feet by 4 feet - are far more than glorified fish tanks.
Water chemistry is continuously monitored offsite. Staff receive text alerts if salinity, temperature or pH shifts outside acceptable ranges. Lighting systems simulate natural sunrise and sunset cycles, and a lunar simulator module mimics moonlight - cuing corals to spawn at precisely the right time.
“We come into the lab that night, watch the coral spawn, and to see the same species be so in sync with each other, releasing their eggs and sperm at the same time - it’s incredible,” Zimmerman said. “They have no ears, they have no mouth, they have no way to communicate. The only thing they know is the light.”
Water temperature is kept between 75-80°F. Bleaching begins at roughly 90°F, a threshold the Florida Keys now regularly exceeds in summer.
Calcium levels must also be carefully managed, as growing corals draw calcium directly from the water.
“We can monitor that and see the calcium dropping - so we know they’re growing,” Zimmerman said. “But that calcium also has to be replaced back into the water.”
The center operates as a free walk-through exhibit open to SeaWorld guests from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Staff are on hand to answer questions, and the aquarists’ day-to-day work - cleaning tiles, monitoring water chemistry, tending to baby corals - happens in full view.
“A lot of people don’t realize that coral is an animal,” Zimmerman said. “They think it’s a rock or a plant.”
That public engagement is intentional. Ticket revenue from SeaWorld guests directly funds the center’s operations, salaries and conservation work.
“If you’re coming to this facility as a guest, you are helping conserve nature,” Zimmerman said.
The numbers behind Florida’s reef crisis are stark. In the 1950s and 1960s, an estimated 50% of the Florida Reef Tract - a 350-mile stretch running from Port St. Lucie to the Dry Tortugas - was covered in live coral. Today, that figure is believed to be less than 5%.
Zimmerman, who has been scuba diving in Florida since the late 1990s, has watched the change firsthand.
“The reefs are almost not recognizable,” he said. “You used to be able to see coral everywhere. Now you see coral - there’s a piece, there is a piece.”
The stakes extend far beyond aesthetics. Coral reefs support an estimated 25% of all marine fish species for at least part of their life cycle. Their loss would ripple through fishing, tourism and the broader Florida economy.
“Could you imagine if we lose the Florida reefs?” Zimmerman said. “You pull one fish out of the chain of the food web and you can potentially lose even more fish.”
Despite the scale of the challenge, Zimmerman is optimistic - and he wants more people to be, too.
He encourages Floridians to visit the Keys, try scuba diving and contact their state representatives about reef funding and restoration. He also points to practical steps everyone can take: reducing fertilizer runoff, lowering carbon footprints and staying informed about the reef’s condition.
“It may not be my generation,” Zimmerman said. “It may be the generation down the road - my kids or my grandkids. But without projects like this, these corals’ futures are pretty bleak.”
For now, the work continues.
“Every baby we have, we give a fighting chance,” he said.