New research confirms Eilat corals’ remarkable resilience to rising temperatures

New research has added further confirmation that the corals off the shores of Eilat in southern Israel are remarkably resilient in the face of rising temperatures.

The findings, published Wednesday in Science of the Total Environment, show that Gulf of Aqaba corals endured four consecutive summers of intensifying marine heatwaves. These included a record-breaking 2024 event that lasted 113 days, during which sea surface temperatures reached 32.6°C, or 90.68°F.

Five coral species survived this record-breaking heat event without mass bleaching, the study showed. Porite corals (a genus of small, polyp, stony corals) remained stable. Cyphastrea, commonly known as brain corals due to their physical appearance, experienced stress but recovered within a few months.

However, sporadic shallow bleaching suggested that the Gulf’s corals may be reaching their limit.

“While nearly half of reef-building corals worldwide face the risk of extinction, our study shows that the Gulf of Aqaba remains one of the last strongholds of reef survival,” said PhD student Na’ama-Rose Kochman, who worked with Prof. Maoz Fine of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Life Sciences and the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat.

However, she added, “even this refuge is not immune to the accelerating pace of climate change and local pollution.”

Fine said, “These results highlight both the resilience and the fragility of coral ecosystems. They underscore the urgent need for regional conservation policies to safeguard what could be the world’s last thriving coral reef.”

Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots that sustain millions of livelihoods, from fisheries to coastal protection. Yet marine heatwaves — prolonged periods of unusually warm sea surface temperatures — are now one of the primary drivers of coral mortality worldwide.