Every so often, tropical countries, especially on the seaside would experience warmer than the normal temperature. While we could only notice its effect of humans, this events also has a larger and more subtle effect on other creatures specifically animals and those who live in the water which could be very well be affected as water sometimes is the immediate absorber and very reflective of the changes in temperature.
Among one of the diverse species living on the water, corals have been more than a habitat for fishes. But one event could very well be the most harmful that could eventually have its destroying effects to our seas' beautiful species.
Just last year, coral bleaching has affected the Hawaii's coral reefs in their coastal area. Coral bleaching is defined as the warmer change in the sea temperature that could get the corals to strip themselves of the algae, their moon food sources due to stress. It was properly defined as the loss of intracellular endosymbionts (Symbiodinium, also known as zooxanthellae) through either expulsion or loss of algal pigmentation; hence, the bleaching-like as corals loss its usual vibrant colors.
Director of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Ruth Gates said that bleaching could be harmful to corals in a way that it makes them more vulnerable to diseases that could fatally destroy the corals. This could affect the species like fishes who rely on corals to spawn.
As Gates compared the dead coral reefs to an abandoned city, "You go from a vibrant, three-dimensional structure teeming with life, teeming with color, to a flat pavement that's covered with brown or green algae, That is a really doom-and-gloom outcome, but that is the reality that we face with extremely severe bleaching events." Hawaii has experienced mass bleaching events twice already, in 1996 and last year. This would hit hard on the corals as it had just gone through the bleaching last year, that would be two years in a row already.
Gates remarked, "You can't stress an individual, an organism, once and then hit it again very, very quickly and hope they will recover as quickly. The bleaching has been reported to be in Kaneohe Bay and Waimanalo on Oahu and Olowalu in Maui. Bleaching has come from Kawaihae to South Kona as reports have observed. An expedition by Courtney Couch if Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, to the remote areas, reported that a mile and a half of reef on the east of Lisanski Island was fatally damaged.
People could be part of the problem also, said aquatic biologist Brian Neilson, from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Chemicals that were from daily use like fertilizer and soap the use for industrial and everyday purposes. Fishermen are also asked to be cautious around the reefs when fishing. A website to help keep track of the bleaching where people were asked to report sightings of bleaching were brought online at Eyes on the Reef website eorhawaii.org.
