Coral bleaching ejects symbiotic algae when seas stay too warm
Under heat stress, reef-building corals expel the colorful zooxanthellae that normally feed them sugars — leaving white skeletons visible through clear tissue.
Bleached colonies can recover if temperatures drop soon, but prolonged warmth and repeated events starve polyps and invite disease and algal takeover.
A white reef is a warning light. Bleaching shows how thin the partnership is between coral animals and the algae that power tropical shorelines.
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