As coral reefs the world over suffer in the face of climate change, pollution and harvesting for aquaria, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are experimenting with 3D printed corals, and finding that fish species that can see color prefer bright designs to dull ones.

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The project is the first known attempt to accurately simulate the structure and functionality of natural living corals, taking into account factors such as water flow around the coral structures, sizes that fit the diversity of fish species and proximity to food (plankton). Coral reefs provide a home for 25 percent of all marine fish species. With the aim of ascertaining what kind of coral makes a “good home” and which designs the fish prefer, the team used 3D design tools to scan natural coral colonies, then structurally and spatially manipulated the […]

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David

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