Among the myriad creatures that populate our ocean, some stand out as having an outsized impact on the marine ...

Bleaching occurs when stressors such as warmer water temperatures cause the symbiotic relationship between the corals and the algae that live in their tissues to go awry such that the coral polyps ...

Gradually, over thousands of years, these layers form a coral reef. Polyps feed on other organisms, like plankton and algae. The algae is what gives coral its beautiful colours. But algae is ...

What gives them their brilliant colour are the billions of algae - called ‘zooxanthellae’ - that live within them, photosynthesising on the sun’s rays and in turn, giving nutrients to the polyps. This ...

Crucial to coral health are colorful algae called zooxanthellae. These algae live in coral polyps, providing coral with its bright color. The zooxanthellae photosynthesize and pass the products to ...

When average ocean temperatures rise even half a degree, the algae inside the coral polyps start producing toxins. As the coral becomes stressed and expels them into the water, it loses the ...

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system. It stretches over 2,300 kilometres along the coast of ...

This coral species, known as acropora hemprichii, grows in the shallow reefs of the Maldives in tapered branches which ...

Polyps grow slowly, forming different shapes and sizes depending on their species. Assisted by other animals with calcium carbonate skeletons and also coralline algae, corals form complex, ...

The polyps produce a hard outer skeleton made of calcium carbonate, each laying down a hexagon-shaped foundation. This grows by up to 10 centimetres a year and the coral develops into various shapes ...

Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps, the organisms that build corals, shed the algae (zooxanthellae) that gives them their colour. These tiny algae live in harmony with the corals and provide ...

The mouth of a coral polyp (center): Symbiotic algae are labeled in red, pathogenic bacteria that enter through this region are labeled in blue. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not ...