The World Heritage-listed reef is currently suffering its worst bleaching in recorded history with 93 percent of corals affected due to warming sea temperatures.
Barriera corallina in Belize – © WWF Canon
“We’ve never seen anything like this scale of bleaching before,” – said Professor Terry Hughes, who convened a team of 300 scientists to study the bleaching. – “In the northern Great Barrier Reef, it’s like ten cyclones have come ashore all at once.” Following aerial surveys of 911 reefs, the scientists found that only 68 were completely intact and that almost a third were severely or entirely bleached. (from: The Telegraph )
A close-up look at the Great Barrier Reef’s bleaching
( the whole article and photos: The Conversation )
April 12, 2016 9.12pm BST
Justin Marshall/coralwatch.org, Author provided
University of Queensland, Australia
Pictures show the silent death of many of these beautiful organisms. But, as noted above, the bleaching can in some cases be weirdly beautiful, as the corals shed their algal cloaks and reveal themselves
Giada Semeraro
After Bleaching,
sea-life on the reef. See more on
The Conversation
