(CNN) The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida, says they've made scientific history as a group of coral has successfully reproduced two days in a row for the first time in a lab setting.

The milestone could have broad implications for "America's Great Barrier Reef," which is the third largest coral reef in the world and is found just off the coast of the Florida Keys.

The successful result is part of what the aquarium calls "Project Coral" -- a program designed in part with the goal of ultimately repopulating the Florida Reef Tract. The project works in partnership with London's Horniman Museum and Gardens to create coral spawn, or large egg deposits, in a lab.

Scientists checking on the coral in the greenhouse.

"It's pure excitement to be the first to achieve a breakthrough in the world," CEO of the Florida Aquarium Roger Germann told CNN. "Our team of experts cracked the code...that gives hope to coral in the Florida Reef Tract and to coral in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans."

Generating a spawn has never been done for corals native to the Atlantic, so the system was set up to see if it could work. According to Germann, many coral experts even doubted that the aquarium's efforts would produce successful results.

Read More