20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Inncoulating corals to save the reef

Professor Raquel Peixoto of the Red Sea Research Center applies a special probiotic cocktail to a Pocillopora spp. coral in the eastern Red Sea. Peixoto's work seeks to improve coral health and resistance to stressors by identifying and then enhancing the coral's microbial communities, much in the same way that humans eat yogurt for gut health.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2021
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Camera: Canon EOS R5
Copyright: © Morgan Bennett-Smith