Coral Diseases in Northeastern Brazilian Reefs

Abstract

In the last decade, corals from northeastern Brazil have experienced bleaching events linked to thermal anomalies, the consequences of which have been the appearance of disease outbreaks affecting different species. As a way to explain and monitoring diseases progression and other characteristics regarding the identification in the field for coral diseases, this article aimed to demonstrate the particularities that follows each diseases symptom. This study presents the results of an assessment of the presence of coral diseases on six coastal reefs in northeastern Brazil, including marine protected areas. After 300 hours of visual censuses, a total of 875 colonies were observed; of these, 114 colonies had some disease, representing 13.02% of the colonies analyzed. Five diseases/syndromes were recorded in four host coral species: white syndrome, white plague, red band, dark spots, and white band. This is the first record of white band on the Brazilian coast. The massive coral Siderastrea stellata showed colonies with all registered diseases, which arouses great concern for conservation of the Brazilian coast.