Environment and Ecology Coral Bleaching in Lakshadweep ▪ The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has recently found that coral reefs in the Lakshadweep Sea have undergone severe bleaching due to prolonged marine heatwaves since October 2023. ▪ Lakshadweep Sea has previously seen coral bleaching events in 1998, 2010 and 2015, but the scale of the current one is unprecedented. Note ▪ Coral bleaching takes place when the water is too warm. ▪ In such conditions, corals expel the microscopic algae which live in their tissues