Coral Health and Disease in the Pacific: Vision for Action

CDFigure 10. Growth anomalies in Acropora species. A) Corymbose colonies; B)Branching colonies; C-D) plating colonies.Summary of Survey Findings1. The overall prevalence of coral disease was found to be low (0.143%) as compared toother regions in the Indo-Pacific. Overall disease prevalence in the NorthwesternHawaiian Islands was found to be 0.5% (Aeby, in press). Willis et al. (2004) surveyedeight sites along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and found the prevalence of disease inhard corals to range from 7.2-10.7%. Raymundo et al. (in press) surveyed eight sitesin the Philippines and reported an overall prevalence of disease of 14.2%.2. Six coral disease states and one disease of CCA were documented from the reefs ofTutuila. Bleaching was found at low levels.3. Five of the six coral disease states have been reported from other areas of the Indo-Pacific. Porites tissue loss syndrome is reported from the NWHI (Aeby, in press)Australia (Willis et al., 2004) and the Philippines (Raymundo et al., in press).Acropora white syndrome is reported from the NWHI (Aeby, in press) and Australia(Willis et al., 2004). Growth anomalies in both Acropora and Montipora have beenrecorded from Australia (Willis et al., 2004), Johnston Atoll (Work et al., 2001) andOkinawa (Yamashiro et al., 2000, 2001; Yamashiro 2004). Lobophyllia tissue losssyndrome has not yet been reported elsewhere. It must be noted that there areregional differences in names assigned each set of field disease signs but through theefforts of the Coral Disease and Health Consortium(www.coral.noaa.gov/coral_disease/cdhc.shtml) this nomenclature problem willeventually be resolved. It should also be noted that any similarities in field signs ofdisease between regions does not necessarily imply the diseases have the sameetiology.4. After histopathological analysis it was found that a number of coral lesions foundduring surveys were not associated with infectious agents or underlying pathologicprocess. These include lesions due to predation, barnacle infestation and mucoussheathing. This confirms the critical component histology plays in understandingdisease processes.205