What is this??

[SmileMon]

a few weeks ago I went diving and saw this, is this the coral "bleaching" I've heard about?

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/60684/cat/518

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/60683/cat/518

If you want high res pictures of this, let me know and I'll email them to you.

 

[archman]

Well, it's dead massive star coral, anyway. Could have been caused by bleaching... I don't see any bacterium bands on the outer edges to indicate one of the fun disease vectors.

*Fresh* bleaching will look bright white, and the coral will look ultra-clean, like you bought it from a souvenir shop.