We learnt a little about coral bleaching at the AquaVet II course during June this year. It’s not an unnatural phenomenon, and the coral are simply swapping the algae that lives within them with a different type to survive an environmental change. But sometimes this doesn’t happen as planned, perhaps because the right replacement algae doesn’t come along at the right time? Without their symbiotic algae, the coral polyps may eventually starve to death, leaving behind bare coral skeletons. Much research on the mechanisms of bleaching and recovery is being done.
But is coral bleaching as bad as we think? This study reports findings that are quite the contrary.
I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
Coral bleaching and habitat effects on colonisation of reef fish
assemblages: An experimental study
Saleh A.S. Yahyaa, b, Martin Gullströma, c, d, 
, 
, Marcus C. Öhmana, Narriman S. Jiddawib, Mathias H. Anderssona, Yunus D. Mgayae, Ulf Lindahlf
| a |
Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden |
| b |
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 668, Zanzibar, Tanzania |
| c |
Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden |
| d |
Department of Marine Ecology – Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, SE-S-451 78 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden |
| e |
Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 60091, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| f |
Blekinge County Administration, SE-371 86 Karlskrona, Sweden |
Received 30 August 2010; Accepted 25 April 2011. Available online 23 May 2011.
