[Coral-List] Coral tissue area

[Tom Lo]

Hello cora-listers.

I was wondering if some of you could recommend me an accurate method to
measure a coral fragment area (about 1 cm2).
I know from a software that can be used to calculate areas (Scion Image
software); however, I'm not sure about its precision in this case.
I have also tried to extract tissue samples with a hollow punch (a kind of
industrial cork borer); but some times fragmentation occurs both on the
extracted disc (+/- 0.9 cm in diameter) and on the surrounding tissue.

The precision of the method is essential now that it will be used to
calculate zoox densities and chl a concentrations. The procedure is part of
some experiments with the coral species *Montastraea annularis* (massive)
and *Agaricia tenuifolia *(foliaceous)*.*

Any recommendation, paper or experience will be welcome.

Thanks for your time.

Saludos cordiales,

Tomás López