How do Gulf Corals beat the heat?

Corals have managed to beat the heat by acclimatization to hot water. The coral live in sybiosis with zoooxanthellae, a type of agae that lives inside the coral and gives it energy, and in return, the coral provides shelter, nutrients mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. If one dies the other is unable to feed itself to stay alive. At temperatures above 35C, the algae's photosynthesis produces oxygen radicals that damage the coral tissue. To protect itself, the coral spits out the zooxanthellae. it can live off its fat reserves for a week, after that it needs to take the algae back in or it will die. A case of bleaching was seen in 1998, when the El Niño subjected 80 % of the world's coral reefs to extreme temperatures. Gulf's corals seem to be coping. It may be something to do with an unusual complement of protective mechanisms. Corals reproduce in one of two ways: through fragmentation or larval production. When a piece of coral breaks off, rolls across the sand, lands somewhere else and starts growing this is fragmentation Larval production happen, in massive spawning events, when countless billions of tiny, 1mm-long larval bulbs are released float around the sea for up to a week.