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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Soft Corals "Melting" Due to Warming Seas, Expert Says


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A healthy soft coral called Dendronephthya (top) extends like a fleshy pink tree from a coral reef in the Red Sea near Eilat, Israel.

Bleaching events—so called because of the stark white skeletons left behind when hard corals die—are causing soft corals to literally melt away, a leading expert says.

As bleaching intensifies due to global warming, he said, entire soft coral species may be wiped out before they are even discovered.

Photograph by Yehuda Benayahu