[Coral-List] Coral Bleaching - Philippines

[Delbeek, Charles]

The California Academy of Sciences just completed a field trip to the Anilao region of the Philippines. Water temperatures ranged from 83 degrees F at 110 ft up to 87 degrees F in the shallows. We saw extensive bleaching of Acropora thickets at a dive spot known as Cathedral at a depth of 20 feet, just down from the dive resort, Dive 7000. This looked like the beginning of a localized bleaching event and in 30+ dives over an 8 day period from May 16-23rd this was the only location that we witnessed this. The monsoon season should be occurring very soon now, and hopefully this will serve to cool down these waters.

Sincerely,

J. Charles Delbeek, M.Sc.
Senior Aquatic Biologist, Steinhart Aquarium
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Dr.
San Francisco CA 94118

phone (415) 379-5303
fax (415) 379-5304
cdelbeek at calacademy.org<mailto:cdelbeek at calacademy.org>
www.calacademy.org

Extreme mammals take over the Academy April 3 - September 12