Publication Date April 18, 2016 | The Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney's corals now bleaching for first time in 'pretty shocking' sign of warming waters

Australia
The coral bleaching is now widespread in the harbour, researchers say. Photo: Matthew Nitschke
The coral bleaching is now widespread in the harbour, researchers say. Photo: Matthew Nitschke

The giant coral bleaching event that is devastating wide swaths of the Great Barrier Reef has extended all the way south to Sydney Harbour, researchers say.

The harbour's surface temperature reached 26 degrees at times during a prolonged marine heatwave in recent months that had also set records for parts of the Australian coast