Extreme ocean heat has eradicated two key coral species in Florida from a 350-mile-long reef that protects the state’s coastal cities from storms and provides habitat for fisheries, scientists have found.
A record marine heat wave in 2023 killed so many Acropora corals that two species are now “functionally extinct,” meaning that so few remain that they’re no longer effectively adding to the coral structure, called Florida’s Coral Reef, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.