MEXICO: Coral reefs are essential to ocean health, but dangerous coral bleaching is occurring more often and more widely due to warmer water, scientists report.
Abnormally warm ocean temperatures are creating conditions that threaten to kill coral in the equatorial Pacific, north Pacific and western Atlantic oceans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Monday.
Coral bleaching occurs when coral is stressed by changes in its environment, causing it to release algae living in its tissue. The coral then turns pale or white and becomes more susceptible to disease. In severe cases, it can die, permanently changing the habitat for fish and shellfish.
“The bleaching that started in June 2014 has been really bad for corals in the western Pacific,” said Mark Eakin, NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch coordinator, in a news release on Monday. “We are worried that bleaching will spread to the western Atlantic and again into Hawaii.”
The warmer oceans are a result of El Nino weather patterns and overall climate change, Eakin said. However, the frequency of these events indicate overall warming is more of a concern than individual weather patterns.
Eakin said in an interview on Monday that while El Nino weather patterns are in place, they developed well after this current event of coral bleaching began.
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