Western Australia coral reefs have been comparatively undisturbed compared to the Great Barrier Reef, but over the last 10 years increased frequency of cyclonic and bleaching events have had a considerable negative impact on ecosystem stability. The coral reefs of Exmouth Gulf, located adjacent to Ningaloo Reef, are also exposed to high and variable turbidity events and elevated SSTs. Yet, coral communities appear stable through time supporting the growing evidence that coral reefs situated in naturally turbid waters are less prone to bleaching than their clear-water counterparts. To investigate the potential of these reefs to function as coral refugia or recruitment source, we monitored coral physiology properties and analyzed stable isotopes of Acropora tenuis across a turbidity gradient from Ningaloo to Exmouth Gulf. As expected, we found an increase in δ13C values moving from turbid to clear-water environment suggesting increased autotrophy levels, however, higher δ15N values were also found with the same trend, implying higher heterotrophy in the clear-water environment compared to the turbid. This latter finding goes against the broader consensus of higher heterotrophic levels in turbid reefs proposing that corals at Exmouth Gulf possess other traits enabling their survival in chronic marginal environmental conditions.