NPR

Battered By Bleaching, Florida's Coral Reefs Now Face Mysterious Disease

Florida's coral reefs are being decimated by a mysterious disease. It comes after years of warming waters have bleached coral reefs around the world, leaving them weakened.
Florida's coral reefs, already bleached by years of warming ocean waters, are being further battered by a mysterious disease.

At Mote Marine Lab's Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration in the Florida Keys, Joey Mandara is like a baby sitter. But instead of children he tends to thousands of baby corals, growing in large, shallow tanks called raceways.

Mote has been doing this work for five years, raising corals from embryos into adult colonies, then planting them on Florida's reefs. Now, the emergence of a new, makes his work more important than ever.

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