[Coral-List] Coral growth abnormalities

[Esther Peters]

Dear Tom and Shashank,

I apologize for the long lapse in replying, but in cleaning out my inbox 
thought I should argue a bit about Tom's statement that "frequency has 
not changed for the last 50 years."  Perhaps it is just an artifact of 
more observers doing the observing in more areas more of the time, but 
I've received reports from areas where numerous lesions are present and, 
when followed, start small, increase in size, and increase in number. 
That is why I cautioned Shashank to make field observations for a while 
before sampling.  Several morphological types of coral growth anomalies 
have been identified, and it is possible that they might have diverse 
etiologies, not only in initiation but also promotion, and changing 
exposure to environmental factors could be involved as well. There is 
still much to be done to understand these lesions!

Esther Peters

Thomas Goreau wrote:

> Dear Shashank,
> 
> Coral growth abnormalities of the kind you describe have been known  
> for more than 50 years, but every few years somebody notices them for  
> the first time and decides they are cancer or tumours.  We have long  
> called them neoplasms, but Esther Peters is quite right to call them  
> simply growth abnormalities, as they can have many causes. A great  
> deal of histological work was done on them in the 1950s and 1960s by  
> Nora Goreau, and we generally felt that most of them were the result  
> of somatic cell mutations from their appearance and structure,  
> although no genetic work was done. It is my clear impression that  
> their frequency has not changed for the last 50 years.
> 
> Best wishes,
> Tom
> 
> Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
> President
> Global Coral Reef Alliance
> 37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 02139
> 617-864-4226
> goreau at bestweb.net
> http://www.globalcoral.org
> 
> 
> 
>>Message: 2
>>Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:56:48 -0800 (PST)
>>From: shashank Keshavmurthy <iamshanky15 at yahoo.com>
>>Subject: [Coral-List] update on coral growth anamolies (tumors??)
>>To: Leslie Whaylen <lesliewhaylen at yahoo.com>,	Doug Fenner
>>	<douglasfenner at yahoo.com>, greta at hawaii.edu
>>Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>Message-ID: <20061031225648.28238.qmail at web31811.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ascii
>>
>>Dear all
>>When the photos that I posted on my website were taken...only 3  
>>colonies of Acropora sp. were seen with those growth anamolies at  
>>our sampling site....
>>
>>We do not know about the adjacent site...or to extent at which it  
>>will spread..or will it spread at all...
>>
>>We will be going again after 2 weeks to check for the spread if  
>>any...or it might have been some freak incident!!
>>will keep you updated
>>Hoping for the best....
>>
>>Regards
>>shashank
>>
>>"the role of infinitely small in nature is infinitely large"-Louis  
>>Pasteur
>>
>>Keshavmurthy Shashank
>>phD candidate
>>Kochi University, Graduate School of Kuroshio Science
>>Laboratory of Environmental Conservation
>>Otsu 200, Monobe, Nankoku-shi
>>783-8502, Kochi, Japan
>>alt. id: shashank at cc.kochi-u.ac.jp
>>phone: 81 080 3925 3889
>>My WebPage: http://web.mac.com/coralresearch/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
>>
> 
> 
> 
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