Bleaching colony of symmetrical brain coral, Diploria strigosa
Bleaching colony of symmetrical brain coral, Diploria strigosaBleaching colony of symmetrical brain coral, Diploria strigosa, 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.