An unidentified disease is ravaging Florida's 360-mile-long coral reef

A coral reef with fish.
(Image credit: Hassan Ammar/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida is home to the world's third-largest coral reef, but it's quickly crumbling away.

Rising ocean temperatures have bleached Florida's corals, making them prone to disease — including the one that is currently ravaging the 360-mile-long reef. A bacterial disease has swept through nearly half of Florida's corals over the past four years, and NPR says that the unidentified infection can kill a coral within weeks.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.