珊瑚是复杂的群体生物，需要氧气才能存活。白天，共生藻类通过光合作用为珊瑚提供充足的氧气，但夜间这一过程停止，珊瑚只能依赖周围海水中的溶解氧。珊瑚表面的微小纤毛会快速摆动，产生涡旋将含氧海水输送至组织表层，这一机制直到2014年才被科学家发现，彻底改变了人们对珊瑚边界层的认知——它并非被动扩散区域，而是由纤毛主动驱动的动态环境。

2026年5月发表于《科学》期刊的一项研究揭示了水温升高对珊瑚纤毛的影响。研究团队将石珊瑚暴露于逐步升高的水温中（最高达39°C），并利用萤光奈米粒子追踪氧气流动。结果显示，水温升高时珊瑚代谢加快、氧气需求增加，纤毛随之加速摆动；然而当温度接近37°C时纤毛开始减速，超过39°C后完全停止运作，珊瑚随即死亡。这如同珊瑚在水下「过度换气」——纤毛愈拼命搅动，反而将缺氧的水推向珊瑚表面。

这项研究为理解珊瑚在气候变迁下的命运提供了新视角。科学家过去主要以共生藻类的白化现象作为珊瑚健康指标，但纤毛可能是更直接的信号，有助于解释为何同一礁体上有些珊瑚白化而邻近个体却安然无恙。研究者还发现纤毛排列呈六角形单元、产生螺旋状涡旋，显示珊瑚骨骼结构与活体组织具有功能整合性。目前学界正重新审视脱氧对珊瑚的致命威胁，认为氧气匮乏可能才是珊瑚大规模死亡的根本原因。

Corals are complex colonial organisms that depend on oxygen for survival. During the day, symbiotic algae supply ample oxygen through photosynthesis, but at night corals must rely solely on dissolved oxygen in surrounding seawater. Hairlike cilia on the coral surface beat rapidly to generate vortices that deliver oxygenated water to the tissue — a mechanism discovered only in 2014 that fundamentally shifted scientists' understanding of the coral boundary layer from a passive diffusion zone to an actively driven, dynamic microenvironment.

A May 2026 study published in Science investigated how rising water temperatures affect coral cilia. Researchers exposed stony coral to incrementally higher temperatures up to 39°C while tracking oxygen flow with fluorescent nanoparticles. As temperatures rose, corals' metabolic demand for oxygen increased and cilia beat faster in response. However, near 37°C the cilia began to slow, and beyond 39°C they stopped entirely, leading to coral death. In essence, the corals were hyperventilating underwater — their frantic ciliary beating ultimately drew oxygen-depleted water toward the tissue rather than replenishing it.

The findings offer a new lens for understanding coral fate under climate change. Scientists have traditionally relied on algal bleaching as the primary health indicator, but cilia may provide a more direct signal — potentially explaining why neighboring corals on the same reef respond differently to heat stress. Additional research revealed that cilia are arranged in hexagonal units producing corkscrew-shaped vortices, demonstrating functional integration between coral skeletal architecture and living tissue. The scientific community is now reassessing deoxygenation as a critical and possibly primary driver of coral mortality, suggesting that oxygen deprivation — not bleaching alone — may be the smoking gun behind mass die-offs in a warming ocean.