HaBB Lab

KAUST scientists discover that organ pipe coral is made up of at least 15 genetically distinct lineages, including two that may exist only in the Red Sea. The study uncovers hidden coral diversity and sheds new light on the evolutionary history and distribution of reef organisms. Discover more: kaust.news/vm-d

#ICYMI 🪸 Scientists have discovered that one of the ocean’s most recognizable corals, the iconic “organ pipe coral” — long believed to be a single species — includes at least 15 genetically distinct lineages. Two are known only from the Red SeaStory: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/hidden…

Scientists have discovered that one of the ocean’s most recognizable corals, the iconic “organ pipe coral” — long believed to be a single species — includes at least 15 genetically distinct lineages. 🪸 Story floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/hidden… Study sciencedirect.com/science/articl… @KAUST_News

Grateful to all my co-authors and the expedition leaders that allowed us to sample for this study and made this work possible 🪸

- A reference collection for octocoral research in the Red Sea - New insights into mesophotic and deep-sea biodiversity, still largely unexplored, as well as 10 new records for the Red Sea - A foundation for biodiversity assessments in this rapidly developing region

Here, we present the first comprehensive molecular assessment of octocoral diversity in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea, harnessing sampling efforts spanning the latitudinal extension of the basin and more than 800 m depths. This study provides:

Our manuscript titled "The hidden diversity of Saudi Arabian Red Sea octocorals revealed through a morpho-molecular assessment across bathymetric and latitudinal gradients", based on the results of my first PhD chapter, is now published open access: nature.com/articles/s4159…

floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/worlds… nature.com/articles/s4159…

Congrats again to all the HaBBs for another successful conference 🪸🦀 A special mention to our Vicky and @bhr_suzy for winning the best poster and best oral presentation, respectively. We are proud of you girls 💫 @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

The HaBBs made it to another conference! Congrats to all our speakers, it’s always amazing to see the passion you all put in your research. Looking forward for the next one together 🦀🪸 @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

Last but not least, @bhr_suzy brought us deeper into cryptic diversity 🦀 @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

Some last presentations from yesterday. @lauramacrina showed some cool preliminary results from her PhD on the octocoral family Ellisellidae @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

@bhr_suzy bringing up deeper into cryptic diversity @ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

@lauramacrina presenting some of her amazing preliminary results on the Ellisellidae family @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

Next was our Fede who brought us around the oceans with the genus Dipsastrea @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024

New day new presentations! @Ecrs2024 #ecrs2024 Silvi gave us an overview of her first chapter, revealing the unknown diversity of the Agariciidae from the Red Sea

Last but not least, our two poster girls Nattie and Vicky presenting one of their PhD chapters. @Ecrs2024 #ECRS2024

Then our PhD students @_Megan_Nolan and Andy amazingly presented part of their PhD projects. So many questions! We are proud of you girls! #ecrs2024 @Ecrs2024

Let’s wrap up the first #ECRS2024 day. First, our post doc Nicolas Oury presented on population connectivity of the hard coral Coscinaraea monile

Our study thus encouraged further exploration of these symbiotic relationships to unravel the adaptation of potential Symbiodiniaceae to environmental disturbances and its impact on coral health. If you want to know more, check the link: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

The assessment of the Symbiodiniaceae community revealed a species and site specific partitioning, which appeared stable under warming pressure in time.

New paper out on Coral Reef @ICRSCoralReefs In this paper, we reported the effect of the 2016 bleaching event in New Caledonia on Pocillopora and Porites corals.