Bleaching colony of great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa
Bleaching colony of great star coral, Montastraea cavernosaBleaching colony of great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, with polyps extended, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.