Coral bleaching seen 60m deep off Northeast coast
In April this year, scientists from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) recorded the bleaching of corals 40 to 60 meters deep off Brazil’s Northeast coast. This is the first time that the phenomenon—which is caused by rising ocean temperatures and can lead to the death of these animals—has been recorded at such depths in the South Atlantic.With the support of NGO WWF-Brasil, a scientific expedition carried out in April on an undersea mountain chain near the coast of the states of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte recorded bleaching in populations of the species Agaricia fragilis living 60 meters deep.The bleaching was also found to have affected all six species in the area, including the fire coral Millepora alcicornis, which had never been found living more than 40 meters deep—the...