By: Melissa Winch http://keepingupwiththeband.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Coral Diseases; Black and White

Here is a picture taken in the Dry Tortugas of white band disease.
Below is a picture also taken in the Tortugas of black band disease.

This disease actually kills the coral as the band crosses the coral leaving behind just a skeleton. A marine biologist studying these diseases told me it was possible to remove the disease by simple fanning it away from the coral... but there's a catch. The tissue that has been fanned away also needs to be collected since it is very contagious to the coral including all the surrounding corals.

1 comment:

  1. Hmm interesting... Is the number of coral that gets infected with the disease increasing in the keys? I wonder also if it's common in reefs in other regions of the world.

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