Researchers have released footage from Miami of the world’s longest-running underwater timelapse, capturing the cycle of coral bleaching and recovery for over a 1,000-day period.

World’s Longest Underwater Timelapse

The underwater timelapse camera was set up by Coral Morphologic in the Port of Miami to monitor the growth and living conditions of the resident coral. The recording began on May 1, 2023, and it passed its 1,000-day mark on January 28, 2026.

Coral Morphologic was originally founded in 2007 by marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J.D McKay in Miami as a way to combine their love of the marine world and art. They also hoped the project, which has included other facets such as a coral livestream, would inspire the public to want to restore the Miami reef.

The timelapse captures 2023’s coral bleaching mortality event and multiple subsequent bleaching and recovery events in different species.

The team was particularly interested in the growth patterns they noticed with staghorn coral, which is a species native to the area. This species of coral not only didn’t suffer from bleaching, but was able to thrive and grow rapidly.

A buoy was also put in place by the team to monitor the ocean temperatures around the camera. This allows researchers to track how adaptable each species of coral is to both extreme heat and extreme cold conditions.

“We recorded late summer temps reaching 90°F (32.6°C) and recent 2026 winter lows of 60°F (15.5°C). This represents a huge range of thermal tolerance for this strain of critically important reef building coral,” wrote Coral Morphologic in a statement.

As Port Miami contains strong currents, due to its shipping lanes that move large volumes of water, the timelapse also allows researchers to monitor sediment movements in the area. Over the course of the recording process, the camera has also recorded more than 200 species of fish, making it one of the most studied and monitored regions under the sea.