Seas that corrode

What

Ocean acidification threatens to scramble marine life on a scale almost too big to fathom.

KATHARINA Fabricius plunged from a dive boat into the Pacific Ocean of tomorrow. A bleak portrait emerged: instead of tiered jungles of branching, leafy corals, Fabricius saw mud, stubby spires and squat boulder corals. Snails and clams were mostly gone, as were worms, colourful sea squirts and ornate feather stars.