The most prevalent coral in the reefs Belize in 1998 was the lettuce coral, "Agaricia tenuifolia". On 22 and 23 October, surveys were conducted at two sites and the findings were devastating. Virtually all the living coral was bleached white and their skeletons indicated that they had died recently. At the lagoon floor, complete bleaching was evident among "A. tenuifolia". Furthermore, surveys done in 1999 and 2000 showed a near total mortality of "A. tenuifolia" at all depths. Similar patterns occurred in other coral species as well. Measurements on water turbidity suggest that these mortalities were attributed to rising water temperatures rather than solar radiation.