In recent decades, seaweed has grown out of control thanks to a die-off of algae-eating animals ... have upended coral sexual reproduction for most hard, reef-building corals in Florida.

The "coral defenders" are made of plastic called PHA. Similar to a potato starch, it naturally breaks down when exposed, ...

How they execute the new plan could mean the difference between saving what’s left on Florida’s 360-mile-long coral reef and another ... other marine plants and animals, survived prehistoric ...

The only living barrier coral reef in the continental United States ... along which you can spot a variety of rare plants and animals. The Great Florida Birding Trail even distinguishes Bahia ...

The Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys offers a quintessential ... [See: The Best Family Beach Vacations in the USA.] John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park If you have time to spare, this ...

An underwater investigation of coral bleaching ... were just decomposing—animals literally dripping off the rocks,” says Vevers of his dive in the Great Barrier Reef. “The most horrifying ...

The animals prefer water depths between 15 and ... In large numbers, crown-of-thorns starfish can mow down wide swaths of coral reef. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN ...

Of course, the cows themselves are prey to other animals ... too few tritons on the reef, crown-of-thorns starfish populations can explode, jeopardizing the living coral that makes up reefs.

Coral diseases, particularly in the Caribbean, have caused major declines in coral populations, especially affecting staghorn ...

and about one-third of reef-building coral species are at risk of extinction. A marine heat wave off the Florida coast in July caused the most severe coral bleaching event in the state’s history. The ...

Coral reefs are made up of colonies of hundreds to thousands of tiny individual corals, called polyps. These marine invertebrate animals have hard exoskeletons ... Among the biggest and best-known are ...