The pair say they were struck by the degree of bleaching in gigantic boulder-like bommies, or reef outcrops, comprised of a stony coral called porites. "We went inside, swam [through the] nooks ...

Lagoon surveys identified that there was less than 50% live coral cover, predominantly Porites - a stone coral species - with evidence of recovering from a bleaching event. Encouragingly there was ...

Even the massive Porites corals in the lagoons were suffering. These giant boulder-like corals are the old growth and sentinels of the reef. Many of these ordinarily resilient corals are hundreds ...

But we also saw slower-growing and normally hardy corals bleaching, such Lobophyllia, Favites and Goniastrea. Even the massive Porites corals in the lagoons were suffering. These giant boulder-like ...