[Coral-List] Oil and corals

Ed Blume eblume2702 at gmail.com
Mon May 3 13:23:48 EDT 2010


I'm only a diver and ocean enthusiast, not a scientist, so I'm having
trouble believing that oil will do no harm to coral.

Why won't coral be fouled those big gooey globs that coat bird?  I've read
the discussion that coral mucus will protect the polyps.  I can
understand that their snot (I'm not a scientist, ya' know) protects the
animals from light oil, but what about the sticky, sticky tar-like stuff?

If crude truly won't harm coral, the scientific community might face a tough
communications challenge.  Since the whole world has seen the damage along
shorelines, they might be resistant to believing crude won't do the same to
coral.

Ed Blume
Madison, WI

On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 5:14 PM, James Cervino PhD. <jcervino at whoi.edu>wrote:

> Dear Walter, Thank you for your refreshing posting. I also did experiments
> with
> Montastraea exposed to mild doses of crude oil; the corals began to expel
> their
> algae within 24hrs, similar to the expulsion rates with mild doses of HCN..
> The
> difference between the HCN exposure and crude oil exposure was; cell death
> was
> quicker with cyanide, and exposure to oil was slower. One quick note
> though;
> mucus production and buildup of Sulfide fouling was only associated with
> crude
> oil exposure.
>
> I remember a few folks denying that HCN killed the corals. However, with
> Jones &
> Oves work on the the inhibition of Photosynthesis using the PAM and the
> work Dr
> Goreau, Hays and I did, we were able to shut down the deniers claims very
> quickly.
>
> I guess we are in a similar situation in this current time; in that some
> will
> now minimize the effects of crude oil spills and its toxicity effects on
> corals! Those "good ole folks" that are employed by big oil, will stop at
> nothing to get your eyes to not believe what they are seeing.
>
> Good Day!
>
> *************************************
> Dr. James M. Cervino
> Visiting Scientist
> Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
> Contact Information:
> NYC Address: 9-22 119st
> College Point New York, 11356
> Cell: 917-620*5287
> ************************************
>
>
> Quoting Walter Goldberg <goldberg at fiu.edu>:
>
> * Listers, for those of you who want to get a better background on the
> * relationship between corals and oil spills than might be revealed by one
> * person's personal experience and opinions, please see NOAA's manual on
> the
> * subject:
> * http://response.restoration.noaa.gov
> * Scroll down to their 10 MB pdf Oil Spills and Coral Reefs, which in part
> * states:
> * The old notion that coral reefs do not suffer acute toxicity effects from
> oil
> * floating over them
> * is probably incorrect. Certainly, direct coating increases the severity
> of
> * impact, but oil concentrations
> * attainable during a spill may also kill some species.
> * Cheers,
> * Walter M. Goldberg, Ph.D.
> * Professor of Biological Sciences
> * Florida International University
> * University Park Campus
> * Miami, FL 33199
> * email goldberg at fiu.edu
> *
> * Message: 2
> * Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:03:49 -0400
> * From: Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> * Subject: [Coral-List] Disaster in the Gulf and Coral Reefs
> * To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> * Message-ID: <a06230949c800bdc7f49f@[131.247.137.127]>
> * Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> *
> *      With the developing oil disaster in the Gulf, I thought a few
> * comments regarding the effects of crude oil on coral reefs might be
> * healthful. Some of you know my background in the industry and my work
> * with API committees before 1974. In 1972, I ...........+ 6 paragraphs not
> * reproduced here.
> *
> *
> *
> * _______________________________________________
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> * Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> * http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> *
> *
>
>
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