Limoges (AFP)
Ceramics to save coral reefs, threatened with extinction: an original experiment, which consists in cutting corals on ceramics, a neutral and non-polluting material, has been successfully carried out at the Limoges aquarium (Haute-Vienne ).
The experiment, conducted with I.Ceram, a company specializing in ceramics implants of alumina, has just given first results "positive and very encouraging," assured an AFP correspondent David Branthome, director of the aquarium.
"All over the world, coral cuttings are being made for reproduction," says Branthome. "Like a plant, it is grown on a support.We usually use PVC, scrap or cement that can ultimately be eaten by fish and why not end up on our plates. use ceramic, neutral material and it's a success, "he adds.
The first cuttings were made on April 19th. Ten days later, "the cuttings were fixed and anchored in the ceramic, which is faster than PVC," says Branthome.
According to Eric Denes, Scientific Director of I.Ceram, "Ceramic replaces bones." I proposed this idea, perhaps a bit far-fetched to use this very strong, porous material to see if the coral was growing on it. It's a success, it works, "he says, adding that" the ceramic is totally enclosed, colonized by coral ".
For now, about forty cuttings have been made on ceramics mainly of hard corals: pavona, xenia ... and some soft corals like sarcophyton.
France, "the only country in the world to be present on three major oceans, the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian, clearly has a major role to play" in the preservation of corals, according to the director of the aquarium.
"It owns 10% of the coral reefs around the world, and creating a coral mini-reef can attract 5 to 15 tonnes of fish per square kilometer," says the director, who quotes figures from Coral Guardian, a dedicated association. to the study and conservation of coral reefs.
"Corals account for 0.16% of the ocean's surface but harbor 30% of marine biodiversity, and their disappearance would be an ecological disaster," he adds.
Other aquariums, that of the Palace of the Golden Gate in Paris, Brest, Cape Agde specialized in the reproduction of corals, or Nausicaa, the largest in Europe, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, will be contribution to perform additional tests.
© 2019 AFP