Algae-growing fish help coral reefs bounce back from bleaching events

Fish liable to stringy bits of algae appear to guard branching corals from the worst results of sea warmth waves and assist them recuperate after bleaching.

In 2019, reefs close to the French Polynesian island of Moorea within the South Pacific Ocean endured the worst warmth stress occasion in 14 years. Resulting from about six weeks of unusually heat waters, the corals that branched there have been bleached en masse, the place they misplaced the symbiotic algae that lived in them and supplied most of their meals.

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