Diseases

[Mark Spalding]

For those of you who may have missed the earlier announcements, WCMC has =
recently launched an interactive map with records of coral diseases =
world-wide. This was a collaborative project with NOAA - National Marine =
Fisheries Service. You can access this information and map at: 

   http://www.unep-wcmc.org/marine/coraldis/index.htm

Of more specific relevance to the recent messages regarding gorgonians we =
have quite a lot of records of Aspergillosis in gorgonians, while a number =
of the "disease unspecified" records also relate to gorgonians (all are =
referenced to source). These at least provide some "background reading". =
Clearly these new reports are of particular interest and will be in need =
of serious investigation.

Ed Green is leading this work, which is ongoing. He is on leave this week, =
but may well want to follow up with more specific details about the =
current reports soon.

With best wishes

Lucy Conway (lucy.conway at unep-wcmc.org.uk)
and
Mark Spalding

__________________________________________

Mark Spalding, PhD
Senior Marine Ecologist                            =20
UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre   www.unep-wcmc.org
219 Huntingdon Road                                 Tel: +44 (0)1223 =
277314
Cambridge, CB3 0DL                                  Fax: +44 (0)1223 =
277136
UK                                          e-mail:mark.spalding at unep-wcmc.=
org
or
Research Associate
Cambridge Coastal Research Unit
Department of Geography
Downing St
Cambridge
UK=20