How scientists are toughening up Okinawa’s corals for a warming world

The subtropical southern Japanese region boasts some of the world’s most biodiverse hubs of normally multicoloured coral, but a 2024 marine heatwave created “graveyards” of ghostly pale or sickly brown organisms.

With the world’s oceans the hottest on record in June, and a major El Nino predicted this year, experts fear that 2026 could be even worse for the colonies of polyps and the rich variety of marine life that calls them home.

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