Jamie Craggs

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Dr Jamie Craggs is the Principal Aquarium Curator at the Horniman Museum and Gardens and lead scientist on the Horniman’s groundbreaking Project Coral research.
He is a Science Associate at the Natural History Museum, London, and in 2016 was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the world’s oldest active biological society. In 2018 Jamie was named Aquarist of the Year by the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America. Previously Jamie worked as the Head Aquarist at the London Aquarium during which time he developed his interest in coral biology. Jamie has also worked as an underwater cameraman based in Borneo, filming and photographing the amazing array of species that are found on the coral reefs in the Celebes seas. Since arriving at the Horniman in 2008 he has been improving the working practices, animal welfare standards, and captive breeding programs within the Aquarium.   His main research interest is the reproductive biology of reef-building corals and in 2012 he founded Project Coral, a multi-year research project focused on developing techniques to predictably induce broadcast coral spawning events in closed system aquariums. To date, within the museum’s closed circuit research systems, gamete (egg and sperm) development has been induced in over 40 species and in-vitro fertilisation capacity developed to produce genetically diverse coral in a lab setting. Through developing a deeper understanding of broadcast spawning events ex-situ, Project Coral aims to support climate change research focusing on reproduction, reef restoration efforts and developing new sustainable coral aquaculture techniques. Alongside continuing to lead Project Coral at the Horniman, Jamie Craggs has also taken on an additional role as Senior Marine Scientist at Mars Sustainable Solutions, where he’ll be working towards implementing coral reproduction techniques at reef restoration sites worldwide. He co-founded the Coral Spawning Lab (CSL) in 2020, an independent company specialising in the design and construction of coral spawning research systems to facilitate reef restoration and research. This enables organizations to implement Project Coral's protocols and reproduce corals independently. Since its founding, CSL has sent over 70 systems to 18 institutions across 12 countries, including government departments, universities, NGOs, and private resorts. In 2022, CSL was awarded the MSC Foundation SeAct Award for Innovation in scaling up coral reef restoration.

Current steering committees

  • Chair – Europe Association of Zoos and Aquarium Coral Taxon Advisor Group
  • Coral Restoration Consortium – Land Based Nurseries Working Group 2017 to date

Media coverage and appearances

  • BBC Our Changing Planet – Restoring Our Reefs
  • BBC Blue Planet Live – How do you get corals to spawn with no natural cues? You create them yourself…
  • Nature – Where I work
  • Life Changing: How Humans are Altering Life on Earth (Chapter 9, Resilient Reefs)
  • The Guardian – New lab-bred super corals could help avert global reef wipeout
  • BBC World Hacks – Can We Save Corals?
  • The Times – IVF hope for coral as species reproduce
  • New Scientist – Playing Cupid to get reluctant corals in the mood for love
  • Oxford Sparks – On the Edge of Existence: Rediscovering a Lost Coral

Conference presentations

  • Intentionally spawning stony corals in the aquarium, Jamie Craggs | MACNA 2014
  • Jamie Craggs: Overview of 5 years’ spawning coral in captivity | MACNA 2018
  • Spawning Scolymia, LPS and Potential for Sustainable Coral Production? Dr Jamie Craggs MACNA 2022
Publications
  • Cai, W., Harper, L. R., Neave, E. F., Shum, P., Craggs, J., Arias, M. B., Riesgo, A., & Mariani, S. (2022). Environmental DNA persistence and fish detection in captive sponges. Molecular Ecology Resources, March, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13677
  • Colin, L., Abed-Navandi, D., Conde, D. A., Craggs, J., da Silva, R., Janse, M., Källström, B., Pearce-Kelly, A., & Yesson, C. (2022). What’s left in the tank? Identification of non-ascribed aquarium’s coral collections with DNA barcodes as part of an integrated diagnostic approach. Conservation Genetics Resources, 14(2), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-021-01250-3
  • Craggs, J., Guest, J., Bulling, M., & Sweet, M. (2019). Ex situ co culturing of the sea urchin, Mespilia globulus and the coral Acropora millepora enhances early post-settlement survivorship. Scientific Reports, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49447-9
  • Craggs, J., Guest, J., Davis, M., & Sweet, M. (2020). Completing the life cycle of a broadcast spawning coral in a closed mesocosm. Invertebrate Reproduction and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07924259.2020.1759704
  • Craggs, Jamie, Guest, J., Davis, M., & Sweet, M. (2020). Completing the life cycle of a broadcast spawning coral in a closed mesocosm. Invertebrate Reproduction and Development, 64(3), 244–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/07924259.2020.1759704
  • Craggs, Jamie, Guest, J. R., Davis, M., Simmons, J., Dashti, E., & Sweet, M. (2017). Inducing broadcast coral spawning ex situ: Closed system mesocosm design and husbandry protocol. Ecology and Evolution, 7(24), 11066–11078. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3538
  • Dowell, R., Craggs, J., Head, C. et al. (2024) DNA state influences the uptake and persistence of environmental DNA by marine sponge natural samplers. Authorea. July 16, 2024.DOI: 10.22541/au.172115401.10623562/v1
  • Erftemeijer, P. L. A., Hagedorn, M., Laterveer, M., Craggs, J. R. K., & Guest, J. R. (2012). Effect of suspended sediment on fertilization success in the scleractinian coral Pectinia lactuca. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 92(Special Issue 04), 741–745. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0025315411000944
  • Fitzgeorge-Balfour, T., Hirst, A. G., Lucas, C. H., & Craggs, J. R. K. (2014). Influence of copepod size and behaviour on vulnerability to predation by the scyphomedusa Aurelia aurita. Journal of Plankton Research, 36(1), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbt077
  • Gilbert, E., Craggs, J & Modepalli (2024) Gene Regulatory Network that Shaped the Evolution of Larval Apical Organ in Cnidaria. Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 41, Issue 1, January 2024, msad285, https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msad285
  • Humanes, A., Beauchamp, E. A., Bythell, J. C., Carl, M. K., Craggs, J. R., Edwards, A. J., Golbuu, Y., Lachs, L., Martinez, H. M., Palmowski, P., Paysinger, F., & Randle, J. L. (2021). An Experimental Framework for Selectively Breeding Corals for Assisted Evolution. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8(May), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.669995
  • O’Neil, K. L., Serafin, R. M., Patterson, J. T., & Craggs, J. R. K. (2021). Repeated ex situ Spawning in Two Highly Disease Susceptible Corals in the Family Meandrinidae. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8(May), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.669976
  • Poon, R. N., Westwood, T. A., Laeverenz-schlogelhofer, H., Craggs, J., & Keaveny, E. E. (2022). Ciliary propulsion and metachronal coordination in reef coral larvae. BioRxiv, c, 1–6.
  • Puntin, G., Craggs, J., Hayden, R., Engelhardt, K., McIlroy, S., Sweet, M., Baker, D. M., & Ziegler, M. (2022). The reef-building coral Galaxea fascicularis: a new model system for coral symbiosis. BioRxiv, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.02.494472
  • Smith, D., Leary, P., Craggs, J. R. K., Bythell, J. C., & Sweet, M. (2015). Microbial Communities associated with healthy and white syndrome-affected Echinopora lamellosa in aquaria and experimental treatment with the antibiotic ampicillin. PLoS ONE, 10(3).
  • Sweet, M, Craggs, J. R. K., Robson, J., & Bythell, J. C. (2013). Assessment of the microbial communities associated with white syndrome and brown jelly syndrome in aquarium corals. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 1(1), 20–27. http://www.jzar.org/jzar/article/view/21
  • Sweet, Michael, Bulling, M., Varshavi, D., Lloyd, G. R., Jankevics, A., Najdekr, L., Weber, R. J. M., Viant, M. R., & Craggs, J. (2021). Species-Specific Variations in the Metabolomic Profiles of Acropora hyacinthus and Acropora millepora Mask Acute Temperature Stress Effects in Adult Coral Colonies. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8(March), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.574292
  • Voolstra, C. R., Quigley, K. M., Davies, S. W., Parkinson, J. E., Peixoto, R. S., Aranda, M., Baker, A. C., Barno, A. R., Barshis, D. J., Benzoni, F., Bonito, V., Bourne, D. G., Buitrago-López, C., Bridge, T. C. L., Chan, C. X., Combosch, D. J., Craggs, J., Frommlet, J. C., Herrera, S., … Sweet, M. (2021). Consensus Guidelines for Advancing Coral Holobiont Genome and Specimen Voucher Deposition. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8(August). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.701784
  • Walker, M., Mezger, S.D., Clarke, A. Craggs, J. et al. Cushion sea-star removal enhances coral restoration practices and limits background mortality on recovering reefs. Coral Reefs 43, 1455–1468 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02550-4
Role
Principal Aquarium Curator

CONTACT

jcraggs@horniman.ac.uk
020 8291 8715