Good morning friends, most of you divers, including myself, would probably look at this photo and feel sure that it was a victim coral bleaching – correct?? Well, it’s not. This is what happens to any type of coral if it falls into sand, the white part is dead and the brown is alive. How do corals fall into the sand you ask??

Many ways…one is storms; the corals become loose from the surge of passing waves and just fall over, and if they fall over into sand, the parts touching the sand will die. If a coral falls over onto rock or reef, it has the ability to continue to grow and will reconnect itself to any hard substrate. Other ways corals fall over is by boat anchors, divers kicking them, and by the dreaded damselfish, who yank out finger corals all day long.       MORE