Unusually warm ocean temperatures this year have led to mass devastation of the world's corals, and prospects for their long-term survival are grim, a top government scientist said yesterday.
"Right now, coral reefs around the world are either bleached, dead from bleaching or trying to recover from bleaching," said C. Mark Eakin, who coordinates the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch. "2010 has been a major, major year of coral bleaching in all of the oceans around the world."
Bleaching occurs when corals expel the microscopic algae that normally live inside their hard skeletons, providing them with food and their bright coloration. Changes in ocean salinity, nutrient runoff and other pollution can cause small-scale bleaching, but scientists say the widespread global bleaching this year is a symptom of unusual ocean warming.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Major, Worldwide Damage to Corals Seen This Year: Scientific American
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