Gary T. Kubota
Source: The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
August 21, 2010 

Honolulu, HI - Federal marine scientists are watching for a potential high level of coral die-off because of a rise in temperature in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands—an area that has the highest rate of species found nowhere else in the world.

The "bleaching watch" comes at a time when scientists are discovering new species that could provide clues to the condition of sea life before human contact in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Coral bleaching occurs when, confronted with excessively warm water, the coral expels algae that is the source of its nutrients and ultimately turns white and dies.

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