Stressed corals dim then glow brightly before death

[maevepotter]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/stressed-corals-dim-then-glow-brightly-before-they-die-2197598/

 

This is an older article but I thought very interesting.

 

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[maevepotter]

@ReefdUpdid you see this? Makes sense that you could see bits of tissue glowing with your black light in the dying coral bins!

[ReefdUp]

Yes, thanks for sharing!  Chasing Coral showed a similar phenomenon with coloration (not fluorescence).  

 

I've noticed this as well, and there is definitely a certain type of "glow" that I've had probably 0% success with.  I keep trying, but I haven't had any luck no matter what I do.  I don't even know how to describe the coloration, but the corals are breathtaking...before death.    

[YHSublime]

Yikes, hopefully nothing to do with the beautiful coloration I've noticed lately in correlation to the drop in alkalinity! 

[nburg]

I wonder if the corals expelling zooxanthella to reduce oxidative stress release the darker pigments first, in a last ditch effort to survive. the darker (brown) pigments are common in shallow reefs to protect from over exposure like we tan to prevent skin damage. As they bleach maybe they keep the more colorful zoocanthella until last. I know ricordeas and anemones always look amazing before bleaching and dying.