[Coral-List] Coral Bleaching in Cuba

[Pedro Alcolado]

Dear collegues,
Moderate coral discolouring (not fully bleaching) were observed at a beautiful fore reef at 10-25 m deep at the southeast of Cuba, west close to the City of Santiago de Cuba (19º57.680'N, 075º52.235'W, approx.) in october 18. Siderastrea siderea appeared very often with a bluish-violet color, and Montastrea annularis and faveolata, Diploria and other massive corals apperaed with paler coloration than normal. Full bleaching was rare and partial.
An AGRRA cruise along a stretch of more than 450 km the north central coast of Cuba (Arrchipielago Sabana-Camaguey) in october of this year did not reveal significant bleaching (Sergio Gonzalez, personal communication).
Regards,
Pedro M. Alcolado