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Lucas Jackson

Karen Neely, a coral ecologist at Nova Southeastern University, carries a piece of diseased symmetrical brain coral while on a dive to collect samples of affected reef colonies near Key West, Florida, in September 2019.

Spiny flower coral is one of at least 22 species that can be infected by SCTLD. Brain and pillar corals are also particularly vulnerable to the disease.

A colony of grooved brain coral—a species highly susceptible to SCTLD—is seen in a laboratory near Tampa, Florida. Researchers are studying such corals in a race to find the cause of the disease and how to treat it.

Researcher Kevin Macaulay applies an antibiotic ointment to the surface of an infected coral colony on a dive near Key West in September 2019. In some instances, antibiotics can help slow the progression of disease.

Researchers put a nail into this mountainous star coral colony in Key West, Florida, in September 2019 to mark the rapid progression of stony coral tissue loss disease.