However, viruses and corals are vastly different things, and comparing them does not necessarily make sense. Viruses like the common cold seem particularly pre

However, viruses and corals are vastly different things, and comparing them does not necessarily make sense. Viruses like the common cold seem particularly predisposed to rapid mutation as a survival tactic, and this works particularly well because of the sheer scale at which microbes work: There are billions of billions of virus particles around. There are billions of billions of virus particles constantly replicating and often doing it badly. Have we looked at how quickly corals, anemone, nudibranches etc. mutate in the face of extinction? There are vast areas of the oceans (eg., along the Mexican coastline) where the deoxygenation of the water has killed off virtually all life during the last half-century; where is the mutated flora and fauna that learned to adapt to the lower oxygen levels? Sure, I agree that science doesn't necessarily understand all about how stuff evolves or adapts. Nature might find a way to survive. But the way you threw out that (I paraphrase) "I'm not worried, they'll just mutate" is too cavalier a response to this problem.