![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Muricea-muricata-scaled.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMuricea Muricata \/\/ Credit: Ronen Libernman<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMuricea Muricata \/\/ Credit: Ronen Libernman<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tListen:<\/p>\n
A rare coral bleaching event is going on now offshore of Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach \u2013 and researchers at Nova Southeastern University are calling the findings troubling.<\/p>\n
Research shows octocorals, which include species typically known for resilience against bleaching, are bleaching.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These colonial animals help to support biodiversity by providing habitat for other marine life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bleaching is a stress response where corals and other organisms become white because they lose their symbiotic algae.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard. You know, it\u2019s hard because I never thought I\u2019d be witnessing this in my lifetime,\u201d said Dr. Jose Lopez, a professor with NSU\u2019s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the bleaching could be tied to rising ocean heat during the summer months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily for our area, we haven\u2019t had many storms, but that also led to less circulation in the water. And that, that also could, together with the high temperatures, could have led to this bleaching.\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Hurricanes and tropical storms cool ocean waters, and researchers say this year\u2019s quiet storm season may be what contributed to heat stress in the octocorals.\u00a0<\/p>\n