Photo of the day

Reefs are a notoriously delicate ecosystem, with each and every coral depending on a stable sea temperature to remain healthy, strong, and resilient. Ocean heatwaves lead to widespread coral bleaching every year due to the climate crisis, causing reef-building corals to become susceptible to stress, and to expel the photosynthetic algae housed in their tissue. By and large, the result is a ghostly loss of pigmentation, but on occasion, the limestone coral skeletons can gain a fluorescent glow, known as the mysterious phenomenon of “colorful bleaching.” After digging into the science of sunlight, scientists have discovered that increased internal light levels can boost the generation of colorful pigments that act as a form of sunscreen, allowing algae to return, recover, and heal the coral 🌞