Objective As a result of an increased public interest in marine life, a growing number of zoos and public aquaria try to display live corals in their marine exhibitions. In contrast to the commercial sector of marine ornamental trade, which is still largely dependent on collections from the wild, it is the policy of zoos and aquaria to display organisms that originate from sustainable inland breeding facilities. The proposed project aims to improve inland breeding and husbandry methodologies for corals, to be applied by zoos, public aquaria and also by the ornamental trade.There are three specific goals: 1) To acquire the protocols for sexual and asexual coral breeding in captivity, including breeding and feeding techniques and induction of natural coral colony morphogenesis 2) To improve coral husbandry by: a. developing generic bioassays to evaluate biotic and abiotic husbandry parameters and to monitor coral health, b. elaborating methods for identification and treatment of coral diseases, c. optimisation of transport and acclimation practices 3) To train the SME's staff with coral breeding and husbandry protocols and methodologies. The CORALZOO project is therefore the first comprehensive approach that makes use of molecular biology, mathematical, toxicological and nutritional tools for the development of unique breeding protocol for corals in captivity. This will enable the SMEs to establish large stocks of coral colonies (the asexual approach) that represent a high genetic variability (the sexual approach) and exhibit natural growth forms. The results of the present work will support the whole industrial sector in Europe, will exacerbate European competitiveness, and will facilitate cooperation in research activities between the European SMEs in this sector. Moreover it will strongly contribute to the environmental protection of wild corals: the zoos will become self-supporting and the trade will become sustainable. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesmolecular biology Programme(s) FP6-SME - Horizontal research activities involving SMEs: Specific activities covering wider field of research under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006. Topic(s) SME-2 - Collective Research (all areas of science and technology) Call for proposal FP6-2003-SME-2 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme Collective - SMEs-Collective research projects Coordinator WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITEIT EU contribution No data Address Costerweg 50 Postbus 9101 WAGENINGEN Netherlands See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (9) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all ISRAEL OCEANOGRAPHIC AND LIMNOLOGICAL RESEARCH LTD Israel EU contribution No data Address Tel Shikmona 8030 HAIFA See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN Germany EU contribution No data Address Mommsenstrasse 13 DRESDEN See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data CONSORZIO NAZIONALE INTERUNIVERSITARIO PER LE SCIENZE DEL MARE Italy EU contribution No data Address Via Isonzo 32 ROMA See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIA Netherlands EU contribution No data Address Plantage Kerklaan 38-40 20164 AMSTERDAM See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data BURGERS ZOO Netherlands EU contribution No data Address Antoon van Hooffplein 1 ARNHEM See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data EMIH United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Tower Street HULL See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data COSTA EDUTAINMENT S.P.A. Italy EU contribution No data Address Ponte Spinola GENOVA See on map Total cost No data ASTRIDPLAZA NV Belgium EU contribution No data Address Koningin Astridplein 7 ANTWERPEN See on map Total cost No data RED SEA CORALS Israel EU contribution No data Address Mobile Mail Galil Ma' aravi' KIBBUTZ SAAR See on map Total cost No data