Coral Bleaching, Hawaii

Antler coral (Pocillopora eydouxi) bleached white by the compounding effects of an El Nino with global warming photographed while scuba diving the Kona coast, Hawaii Island during the spring. Excessively warm seawater temperature is stressful to live corals resulting in coral bleaching. Corals get their colors from symbiotic algae of the genus Symbiodinium, a type of dinoflagellate called zooxanthellae. When stressed corals expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae the live coral turns white. Algae colonizing dead coral as shown here is an outcome of prolonged bleaching.
Image #: 12310845
See More From: Thomas Kline