CNN —An urgent rescue operation is underway to save Florida coral species from extinction as a mass bleaching event and die-off from unprecedented water temperatures spreads across reefs in the the Florida Keys. Extreme heat and a lack of rain and wind pushed water temperatures around Florida to some of the highest levels ever observed anywhere. The most significant concentration of coral isn’t located in the shallower Florida Bay, where the readings were taken, but that matters little for coral around the Florida Keys baking in water temperatures topping 90 degrees. “The pictures are frankly horrifying,” Katie Lesneski, the monitoring coordinator for NOAA’s Mission: Iconic Reefs told CNN. Coral bleaching as seen at Cheeca Rocks off Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

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Persons: ” Keri O’Neal, ” Andrew Ibarra, ”, Ibarra, Andrew Ibarra Ibarra’s, Katie Lesneski, “, ” Lesneski, ” O’Neal, O’Neal, Andrew Ibarra The, KML, Cynthia Lewis, ” Lewis Organizations: CNN, Florida Bay, Data, Florida Aquarium, Coral Restoration Foundation, NOAA, Florida Keys National, NOAA’s, Florida Institute, Oceanography’s Keys Marine Laboratory, “ Locations: Florida, Sombrero, Marathon, Elkhorn