Algae-farming fish help coral reefs bounce back from bleaching events

Fish that have a tendency patches of stringy algae appear to defend branching corals from the worst results of marine warmth waves and assist them recuperate after bleaching.

In 2019, the reefs close to the French Polynesian island of Moorea within the South Pacific Ocean endured their worst warmth stress occasion in 14 years. Due to some six weeks of unusually heat waters, branching corals there bleached en masse, by which they lose the symbiotic algae residing in them that offer most of their meals.

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