They look like underwater gardens, but coral reefs are far closer to bustling cities than quiet flower beds. Every crevice hides a drama: a shrimp defending its burrow, a parrotfish chiseling rock, a shark patrolling like a night-time security guard. Scientists warn these ocean metropolises are under siege from warming seas and pollution, yet ...
Picture yourself peering into the clearest turquoise waters imaginable, only to find ghostly white skeletal remains where vibrant underwater cities once thrived. You’re witnessing firsthand what scientists now call the most catastrophic transformation our oceans have ever experienced. Coral bleaching isn’t just making headlines because it’s visually dramatic – it’s literally reshaping the very fabric ...
For a decade, Florida’s reefs have read like a tragedy: bleaching summers, relentless disease, and ghostly coral heads where color used to explode. Yet this season, divers and scientists are reporting a different kind of scene – new coral recruits, revived color on battered colonies, and garden-like patches where restoration teams have been tirelessly ...
On a windless morning off Islamorada, the reef looks like it’s holding its breath. Fish still flicker through the water column, but the corals below have lost their color and, with it, their margin for error. ’s reefs are again riding the razor’s edge between survival and collapse, as ocean heat stacks up earlier and ...
A new diver-operated microscope is revolutionizing coral research by allowing scientists to observe photosynthesis and microalgae behavior directly in the ocean. Developed by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Benthic Underwater Microscope Imaging PAM (BUMP) offers unprecedented access to coral bleaching and how they respond to environmental stress. A Technological Leap for Coral ...
