Tower and Town, November 2019

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Coral Reef Bleaching

Deep in the warm oceans of the world, a myriad of colours astounded the eye. A box of jewels laid out on the ocean floor, teeming with life. Amethyst anemones arched into the sea; sapphire sponges searched for food; and sea worms wriggled in the waves.

This is what it should be. What it used to be.

Now… death. White skeletons scare. Bleached bones bond together. All colour leaches away as the warm waters are the coral’s funeral. An aquamarine shroud hides devastation beneath. Fossil-like fingers reach up, begging for help. There is none. Absent algae leave calcium carbonate corpses in the coffin of the deep.

Cody Heaton