[Coral-List] In memorium. Remembering pillar coral

[Douglas Fenner]

    I'm informed that the coral Ctenella chagius is now placed in the
Euphillidae, based on DNA sequencing.  The paper is  Arrigoni, R.,
Stolarski, J., Terraneo, T.I., Hoeksema, B.W., Berumen, M.L., Payri, C.,
Montano, S. and Benzoni, F., 2023. Phylogenetics and taxonomy of the
scleractinian coral family Euphylliidae. *Contributions to Zoology*, *92*(2),
pp.130-171.   The link that Google Scholar has to the paper is not working.
    Cheers, Doug

On Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 12:54 PM Douglas Fenner <
douglasfennertassi at gmail.com> wrote:

>       So the extinction of coral species due to humans is now beginning.
> The next couple of decades or so could be quite grim for coral species.
> Another species of coral that is hanging by a thread is Ctenella chagius,
> like Dendrogyra the only species in its genus, and in the same small
> family.  It is endemic to the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean,
> though it has also been found in one other spot in the Indian Ocean, though
> we don't know how much of it is at the other spot.  The first surveys in
> Chagos after the 2016 mass coral bleaching could find no colonies alive.
> The second round found a few colonies that had islands of living tissue
> remaining, and a subsequent survey found one small group of intact
> colonies.  An attempt at keeping them alive in captivity failed, unlike
> Dendrogyra.  The next mass bleaching event that strikes Chagos could well
> drive it to global extinction.
>      There is a paper that brings up your point about the more cryptic
> species and the fact that we would not know it if any of them went
> extinct.  Richards and Day, 2018.
>       My understanding is that while cryopreservation of sperm works, it
> doesn't work with eggs yet     .  Maybe it works with larvae??  If
> it doesn't work with eggs or larvae, it won't protect species from global
> extinction.  If people can keep them alive in captivity, that could keep
> them from going globally extinct, but it is a bit precarious, a power
> failure could kill them when air pumps stop, and there are other things
> that can happen in captive systems for coral.
>       I remind people that the lethal SCTLD disease that kills so many
> Dendrogyra is sweeping through the Caribbean, my guess is that it is likely
> to do to Dendrogyra there what it did in Florida.
>
> Cheers, Doug
>
> Sheppard, C., et al.  2020.  Coral mass mortalities in the Chagos
>
>     Archipelago over 40 years: Regional species and assemblage extinctions
> and
>
>     indications of positive feedbacks. Marine Pollution Bulletin 154:
> 111075
>
>
> Richards, Z. T., and Day, J. C. 2018. Biodiversity of the Great Barrier
> Reef- how
>
>               adequately is it protected? *Peer J*: 6: e4747.
>
> On Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 12:21 AM Peter Sale via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>> Hi Joe and others,
>> Dendrogyra.... Back in 2021, when I had more time to blog than I now seem
>> to, I reflected on the sad story of Dendrogyra:
>> https://www.petersalebooks.com/?p=3165
>> The story I told is still worth reading even though the situation for
>> that iconic species is far more dire than even then.
>> The naked ape is proving day by day that it is not a very effective
>> steward of this planet.  When it too is gone, or at least knocked down and
>> allowed to scrabble together a new semblance of a civilization, perhaps
>> there will be an opportunity for the planet to repair its many wounds and
>> begin a new cycle of growing wondrousness.  Wondrousness that naked apes
>> will likely never see, perhaps including coral reefs with a species a
>> little bit like Dendrogyra.
>>
>> Peter Sale
>> U. Windsor (emeritus)
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>