Anya Brown Content

Fish ‘Beauty Salons’ Offer Insight into How Microbes Move Within Reefs

Katherine E Kerlin — June 05, 2025 - 9:05am

Where do you go when you’re a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural “beauty salons,” lively social hubs of activity where fish “clients” swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners. The little cleaners dart under and around their much bigger clients — even entering their mouths — cleaning their scales of bacteria and parasites like a team of car washers servicing a Buick. Sometimes cleaners even rub against their clients, providing a soothing massage.

Hibernating Corals and the Microbiomes That Sustain Them

Katherine E Kerlin — December 01, 2022 - 8:30am

What happens to a coral's microbiome while it hibernates? A UC Davis study found microbial communities shift while a coral sleeps, which may inform coral health and recovery efforts.

Corals Saving Corals

Katherine E Kerlin — November 21, 2022 - 10:00am

Corals resistant to disease can rescue more vulnerable corals, UC Davis found. Raising corals with diverse genotypes builds resilience amid disease and climate changes in reefs.