Farmers in the basement

My favorite part of E.T. was when Elliot set all the frogs free in his Biology class. "Set them free! Set them free!" While I don't protest classroom dissection, I am not big on containing living animals/organisms in a tank. However, Steve Lowes web-based coral business thriving in his basement interests me.

Coral farmers like Lowes, propagate their coral by breaking off millimeter-sized fragments and growing them in the tanks. Coral grows two inches in sixth months. At that size they are ready for sale....a portion of a $6.9 billion aquarium market.

Business may be business, but scientists have been able to learn more about different coral species because of these harvesting entrepreneurs. Lowes also contributes to the study of his primary product by using his aquarium to study the interaction of more than 60 species.