Besides preserving and growing coral species, the Maui Ocean Center features a Living Reef Exhibit in its large aquarium. Courtesy photo/Maui Ocean Center

At one of the largest saltwater aquarium complexes in the state, more than 50 coral species are grown and native species thrive, sometimes helping to regenerate Hawaiian reefs in the event of damage.

The Maui Ocean Center’s curator, Chris Keller, said that, when coral reefs have been damaged, a team sometimes goes out to gather samples of coral species in the breakoff area.

Keller said the team takes them to grow at the Maui Ocean Center and eventually returns them to restore the reef.

“Some locations are not ideal, but we’ve had some success,” he said.

Keller said the Ocean Center has a very good success rate in growing the corals in its exhibits and Coral Ark Nursery.

The center is working with the state to help to repair the reef damage that happened when a yacht ran aground at Honolua Bay last year.

Keller said the Maui Ocean Center is home to 18 endemic species of corals that are found only in Hawaiian waters and provides a seed bank in the event that any of them should be eliminated in the wild.

What’s fed to corals can vary based on size of the species from some being fed with tiny polyps to others shaped like large mushrooms.

A diver explores the condition of the reef at Maalaea Bay as part of a Maui Ocean Center assessment. Courtesy photo/Maui Ocean Center

At the ocean center, the corals are fed zooplankton and phytoplankton with smaller species also provided with tiny fish eggs while the larger are provided with ground or chopped fish. Special aquarium lights are used to grow the corals and their symbiotic algae, and the temperature of the water is monitored for maximum growth.

“We give them the conditions they need to thrive,” Keller said.

Chris Keller

In 2015, there was a coral bleaching incident in the Hawaiian Islands where ocean temperatures exceeded 83 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, causing the corals to shed their algae, thereby depriving the corals of their ability to receive additional nutrients.

The conditions of reefs vary on Maui from pristine reefs off Olowalu to areas where there seem to be fewer fish in waters off the condominiums near Maalaea Harbor. Keller said the conditions in Maalaea include some areas where the coral is alive and thriving, but coral reefs are also influenced by surf.

“You have to take into consideration there’s a lot of wave action,” he said. “It’s not that bad.”

A large public attraction at the Maui Ocean Center is the Living Reef Exhibit.

A large tank filled with 18,000 gallons of saltwater is designed to mimic the natural conditions of a coral reef with a diversity of sea life including sea stars, sea cucumbers and different species of corals.