Growth anomalies on Acropora cytherea corals

Extended geographic distribution of several Indo-Pacific coral reef diseases

“…Over the last 30 yr, coral diseases have been responsible for significant mortalities and coral community structure changes in many Caribbean and Indo-Pacific tropical coral reefs (Gladfelter 1982, Willis et al 2004, Miller et al 2006. Only a few of the common damaging coral diseases of the tropics have been reported from the northern-and southernmost coral reef communities in both the Atlantic−Caribbean (Weil et al 2002, Weil 2004, Francini-Filho et al 2008, and the Indo-Pacific (Yamashiro et al 2000, Yamashiro 2004, Irikawa 2006, Irikawa et al 2011, Dalton & Smith 2006.…”

“…Since then, bleaching has been a recurrent event on many reefs (Nakano 2004). Growth anomalies (GA) affecting several species of tabulate Acropora, Porites and Montipora were the first reported coral diseases potentially caused by biotic factors (Yamashiro et al 2000, Irikawa 2006, Irikawa et al 2011) (see Table 1). A condition called Porites pink block disease (PPBD) was later reported to be expanding around the Ryukyu archipelago (Yamashiro 2004), and was attributed to a trematode similar to the one described for massive Porites (trematodiasis) in Hawaii (Aeby 1998).…”

Cellular kinetics in growth anomalies of the scleractinian corals Porites australiensis and Montipora informis

“…Their results also indicate hyper-proliferation of cells in GA tissues. However, the mechanism and the process of cellular kinetics in GA regions are not yet understood.The etiology of GA is still unclear, although relationships between GA prevalence and several factors have been suggested, including UVB radiation (Peters et al 1986, Coles & Seapy 1998, nutrients and organic carbon (Kaczmarsky & Richardson 2010), water temperatures and photosynthetically active radiation (Stimson 2010), water turbidity and depth (Williams et al 2010), host density and human population size , and aging (Irikawa et al 2011). GA regions are frequently associated with microorganisms in the tissue as well as skeletal space (Coles & Seapy 1998, Work & Rameyer 2005, Work et al 2008, and the microorganisms have been suggested to be involved in GAs (Work & Rameyer 2005, Domart-Coulon et al 2006).…”

“…However, the processes leading to GA progression, i.e. how GA tissues invade surrounding healthy regions, have never been investigated.The partial death of GAs on coral colonies has been reported at gross and microscopic levels (Work et al 2008, Irikawa et al 2011, Yasuda et al 2012. The microscopic studies revealed that tissue necrosis of GAs are often, though not always, associated with infiltrating microorganisms such as algae and fungi (Work & Rameyer 2005, Work et al 2008.…”

“…(Work et al 2008). Initiation of necrosis has been reported to start at the region far from the GA progression area (Kaczmarsky 2006, Irikawa et al 2011, Yasuda et al 2012). Even though GAs are supported by nutritional supplies from surrounding healthy tissues, the compromised gastrovascular canals of GAs and the increased distance from healthy tissues may cause malnutrition in a GA (Domart-Coulon et al 2006, Work et al 2008, Yasuda et al 2012.…”