New method for freezing and storing coral larvae

In news–Recently, Scientists have freezed Great Barrier Reef coral in a world-first trial.

Key updates-

Scientists have trialled a new method for freezing and storing coral larvae they say could eventually help rewild reefs threatened by climate change.
The Great Barrier Reef has suffered four bleaching events in the last seven years, including the first-ever bleach during a La Niña phenomenon, which typically brings cooler temperatures.
Cryogenically frozen coral can be stored and later reintroduced to the wild but the current process requires sophisticated equipment including lasers.
Scientists say a new lightweight “cryomesh” can be manufactured cheaply and better preserves coral.
In a recent lab trial, the world’s first with Great Barrier Reef coral, scientists used the cryomesh to freeze coral larvae at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS).
The coral had been collected from the reef for the trial, which coincided with the brief annual spawning window.
The cryomesh was previously trialled on smaller and larger varieties of the Hawaiian corals. A trial on the larger variety failed.
The mesh technology, which will help store coral larvae at -196°C (-320.8°F), was devised by a team from the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering.

What are corals?

Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps.
Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
Coral reefs are large underwater structures composed of the skeletons of colonial marine invertebrates called coral.
The coral species that build reefs are known as hermatypic, or “hard” corals because they extract calcium carbonate from seawater to create a hard, durable exoskeleton that protects their soft, sac-like bodies.
Other species of corals that are not involved in reef building are known as “soft” corals.
These types of corals are flexible organisms often resembling plants and trees and include species such as sea fans and sea whips.
Each individual coral is referred to as a polyp.