The Coral City Camera is an underwater camera streaming live from an urban reef environment in Miami, Florida. It is located along the shoreline at the east end of PortMiami in about 9’ (3m) of water. It was deployed in late 2019 by Coral Morphologic as a hybrid art-science research project produced with Bridge Initiative and Bas Fisher Invitational and initially funded through grants awarded by a Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In January 2021, the Coral City Camera and its associated scientific research was moved approximately 300′ east of the original site.
The Coral City Camera provides a fish-eye view into the urban marine ecosystem that has developed around the human-made shorelines of Miami. The project was launched with the idea that the incredible biodiversity living just below the waterline in Miami should be a point of civic pride that engages the public to protect what they know and love. The riprap boulder shoreline along PortMiami demonstrates that human infrastructure can offer imperiled species with refuge and functional habitat in unexpected urban locations as well as serve as conveniently accessible research sites.
While the abundance of fish and marine life makes for a real-life aquarium screensaver you can enjoy all day, the Coral City Camera also serves as a valuable scientific tool to monitor the health and wellbeing of this underwater life in a non-invasive fashion. Coral Morphologic is working with ACCRETE from NOAA to sample and record the site’s water parameters while using the camera as a research tool to monitor a coral nursery that houses fragments of brain corals (Pseudodiploria strigosa) from urban habitats in order to investigate their resilience. We are also working with Rescue-a-Reef from the University of Miami to use the site to identify the hardiest genotypes of staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn (Acropora palmata) corals that have been propagated in their offshore nursery in Biscayne National Park.
On 2/6/22, the 2 year anniversary of the CCC livestream on Youtube, the ‘pyramid’ in the Rubble Zone (afternoon) view was dedicated to Glenn A. Gilmer (9/18/65-1/31/22) and is now known as Glenn Nevis. Glenn was the lead moderator (of a squad of Marvelous Mods) of the CCC Chat and helped build the helpful and uplifting community of people from around the globe that tune in and enjoy this little slice of underwater life here in Miami. May his memory be a blessing and may his spirit live on forever!! For more information on the CCC, please visit: http://www.coralcitycamera.com/
To see timestamps of the most interesting and unusual fish and marinelife of the past day check here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/…
This is the list of fish species we’ve observed on the Coral City Camera (190+ so far): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/…
To see a coral and sponge ID guide for each of the CCC’s primary perspectives along with additional info see this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x…
To purchase Coral City Camera merchandise to help keep this Camera operating: https://coralmorphologic.bigcartel.com/
Or make a donation to Coral Morphologic for the ongoing maintenance of the CCC please use:
http://PayPal.Me/coralmorphologic Follow the CCC on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coralcityca… Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoralCityCamera Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoralCityCam… Listen to mixtapes made specifically for the CCC: https://tinyurl.com/phf3czft To play Coral City Bingo at home get your card here: Beginner: https://bingobaker.com/view/5802744 Intermediate: https://bingobaker.com/view/5803748