Trip Report Raja Ampat Dive Lodge-March 2025
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That is not accurate - the corals are not trying to protect themselves by expelling the symbiotic algae: it’s the unfortunate result of the corals being under stress. Some good explanations are here:
What is Coral Bleaching and What Causes It - Fight For Our Reef
Coral bleaching is a global crisis, caused by increased ocean temperatures caused by carbon pollution and climate change.www.marineconservation.org.au
What is coral bleaching?
When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white.oceanservice.noaa.gov
We definitely are on the same page on the sad tragedy unfolding before us!
That is not accurate - the corals are not trying to protect themselves by expelling the symbiotic algae: it’s the unfortunate result of the corals being under stress. Some good explanations are here:
What is Coral Bleaching and What Causes It - Fight For Our Reef
Coral bleaching is a global crisis, caused by increased ocean temperatures caused by carbon pollution and climate change.
What is coral bleaching?
When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white.
We definitely are on the same page on the sad tragedy unfolding before us!
Good explanations! But they never really go to the depths whith WHY the algae gets expelled though, which is that it has become poisonous. So to protect itself, the coral expels it. So yes, the bleaching is not a protection in itself, but a result of a survival mechanism—the coral trying to protect itself.
”In the case of stressful temperatures, the algal symbiont becomes toxic to the coral animal. The coral animal responds by expelling the symbiotic partner from its tissues as a survival strategy during the heatwave.”
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