Coral Reef

The “rainforests of the ocean,” coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots that make up less than one percent of the marine environment but are home to 25 percent of the ocean’s marine life. Corals can live up to 1,000 years, but they are extremely vulnerable to warm water temperatures. When water temperature rises, the algae living in coral dies, leaving reefs white and bleached. This can also lead to coral mortality. Ocean temperatures are expected to exceed coral reef tolerance every year for the next several decades, which means events like the catastrophic 1998 bleaching event in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia are likely to become commonplace in the nexty twenty years.

Scientific name: Varies
IUCN Red List: Many individual species are considered threatened
Endangered Species Act List: Many individual species are considered threatened
Region: Mid-Pacific, Southeast, Oceans