Tiny Hairs That Help Corals Breathe May Malfunction in Warming Oceans

Coral polyps rely on microscopic cilia to generate vortices that circulate oxygenated water into their outer tissues, a process discovered in 2014 and modeled in 2026. As seawater temperature rises, cilia beat faster to compensate for lower oxygen solubility, but beyond a threshold the increased beating consumes available oxygen, leading to potential suffocation. This mechanistic insight links ciliary activity to bleaching, disease, and mass die-offs, offering a new biomarker for coral stress.