Florida [US], July 26 : A rescue operation is underway to save Florida’s coral species from extinction as they face a mass bleaching event, die from unprecedented water temperatures, CNN reported.
Coral experts told CNN that multiple reefs around the Florida Keys are now completely bleached or dead in a grim escalation that took place in as little as two weeks.
Experts say they expect “complete mortality” of the bleached reefs in just a week, and worry reefs at greater depths could face the same fate if the unprecedented ocean warmth continues to escalate.
Water temperatures around Florida have been pushed to some of the highest levels ever due to extreme heat and a lack of rain and wind.
A buoy in the Florida Bay hit 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit at a depth of five feet on Monday, in an area where coral is scant. Many other stations in the area topped 96 degrees, including one that hit 99 degrees, according to the National Data Buoy Center.
The most significant concentration of coral isn’t located in the shallower Florida Bay, where the readings were taken, but that matters little for coral around the Florida Keys baking in water temperatures topping 90 degrees, as per CNN.
Coral is extremely sensitive to temperature changes. Temperatures that are too hot for too long cause coral to bleach and turn white as they expel their algal food source and slowly starve to death. The water is typically in mid-80s in the region, experts said.
On July 6, temperatures at a reef managed by the Florida Aquarium were 91 degrees. The coral was completely healthy then, but when aquarium teams returned on July 19, all of the coral was bleached and an estimated 80 per cent of it was dead. Another report from the Coral Restoration Foundation found “100 per cent coral mortality” at Sombrero Reef off the coast of Marathon in the Florida Keys, CNN reported.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor