Florida’s ailing coral reef system is at the risk of a devastating bleaching outbreak after being engulfed in an “unprecedented” heat stress event that stretches throughout the waters of the Caribbean and Central America, US government scientists have warned.
South-east Florida’s corals are now at the highest alert level for bleaching for the first time ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), with “significant mortality likely” for its corals amid abnormally hot ocean temperatures.