Isn't It Pretty to Think So?

Tropical corals are famous for their captivating colors thanks to microscopic algae inhabitants. Corals are sensitive to small changes in temperature. Just a 1°C increase in water temperature can cause corals to kick-out their microscopic algal inhabitants, zooxanthellae. Without zooxanthellae, corals are rendered colorless, or ‘bleached’. If a coral bleaches more than once in just a couple of years, there’s a good chance it will die soon after. Sometimes coral reefs will appear to glow, with beautiful colors of blue, purple and green, which might seem to the casual observer as a healthy reef, but this glow is actually a warning sign of eminent bleaching. 

What has caused this crisis in coral reefs around the globe: the devastating impact of climate change (ocean acidification), overfishing, pollution, and other human activities. Coral reefs are critical ecosystems that provide food and livelihoods for millions of people; their preservation is vital.