Coral Reefs Reveal a Revolutionary Light-Sensing Mechanism Using Chloride Ions Coral reefs, often thought to be passive and simple marine organisms, harbor a sophisticated biological secret that rewrites the textbook on how animals perceive light. A collaborative research effort led by scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University has unveiled a groundbreaking discovery about the unique light detection system within reef-building corals. Their study reveals that these corals utilize a novel mechanism involving chloride ions to modulate their vision sensitivity, raising profound implications for our understanding of photoreception in the animal kingdom and opening new frontiers in bioengineering.

Most comparative studies assessing reef health focus on living hard coral cover as the key metric. In Indonesia, in situ monitoring of coral cover has been ongoing for over five decades. However, as m...

Coral reefs, often hailed as the rainforests of the sea, face an unprecedented crisis as rising ocean temperatures driven by climate change relentlessly threaten their survival. These ecosystems, which support an astounding diversity of marine life, have been increasingly subjected to mass bleaching events—episodes where corals expel the symbiotic algae critical for their energy production, leading to widespread mortality. The frequency and severity of these events have intensified in recent decades, pushing coral assemblages to the brink of collapse.

Large seasonal temperature variability exacerbated the negative effects of reduced carbonate saturation on coral calcification during the mid-Miocene, suggesting limited potential for extra-tropical s...

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Scientific Reports - Emerging skeletal growth responses of Siderastrea siderea corals to multidecadal anthropogenic impacts in Martinique, Caribbean Sea

Scientific Reports - Emerging skeletal growth responses of Siderastrea siderea corals to multidecadal anthropogenic impacts in Martinique, Caribbean Sea

Scientists will use the instrument to explore how climate change is affecting the ability of coral to survive.

It was never meant to be a prediction—it was a warning. A glimpse into a future we still had time to avoid. A wake-up call. A “what if.” But now, in 2025, that imagined forecast no longer belongs to t...

Laboratory experiments have long been used to guide predictions of organismal stress in response to the rapidly changing climate. However, the ability…

As baby corals float in the currents, they can expand their species’ range. But can they get to climate refuges fast enough to survive? A new study has good news and bad.

Coral reef range expansion takes centuries, and higher-latitude seas are therefore ineffective refugia for most tropical corals.

In this study, employing a detailed analysis of ocean carbonate system observations, models and biological assessments, we demonstrate that by year 2020, the average global ocean conditions had alrea...