SARASOTA, Fla. — Coral may be tiny, but they a hold a huge place in the ocean’s ecosystems.

And Dr. Sara Williams is trying to stop coral disease off Florida’s coast and beyond.

Williams works at MOTE Marine Lab and Aquarium in Sarasota.

And she introduced us to her favorite lab specimen invertebrates.

They are in a rectangle, raised aquarium- rows of small specimens.

“We have our acropora cervicornis, our staghorn coral,” said Williams, pointing into the water. “We have two different types or fragments of montastrea cavernosa- that’s great star coral.”

Coral live together in colonies, secreting their exoskeletons- creating reefs.

“Coral are stressed out by increasing temperature, by ocean acidification,” said Williams. “They are facing different diseases as well as local stressors like pollution.”

Williams is testing a new ointment to save diseased coral. She uses a caulking gun for underwater application—with an extra sticky ointment.

“Corals are covered in mucus, just like a snot layer, William said, laughing. “And so it’s really hard to get things to stick to those!”

Before the new ointment, they used a rope soaked in the medication and staple gunned it to the coral. Thankfully, Williams’ father passed on his love of scuba diving, and it fits perfectly in her current profession.

“In the lab I’m limited to just this,” she said moving her hands forward and back, “but underwater, I do spend a lot of time upside down.”

Williams says it was actually her 2012 MOTE internship that helped inform her course of coral study.

“I wanted to come here, be able to do research, talk to the public about what I am doing, and also, mentor young scientists. So it’s been just a dream come true,” said Williams.