They document the ongoing bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef as ocean temperatures continue to be driven upward by climate change.
SEE ALSO: The scientist who first warned us about climate change says it’s way worse than we thought
Before corals bleach, they are often a deep brown or khaki-green color. These colors come from the symbiotic algae (sometimes called zooxanthellae) that co-exist with the coral polyp.
During bleaching, as the symbiotic algae depart, you can see the beautifully colored polyps. Sometimes polyps are transparent and we see only the white skeleton beneath. Other polyps may be brightly colored, as seen here.
But whether white or fluorescent, these corals are far from happy. Once the final stage of the bleaching process is reached, it is likely the coral has been stressed for days or weeks. From here on, it may recover slowly – by re-acquiring its symbiont friends – or it may die, having run out of energy in the absence of the symbiotic algae that provide it with carbohydrates. What often happens next is that the coral is covered with a film of turf algae, which takes over the parts of the reef previously colonized by healthy coral.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider