No bleaching in M.madracis ?

[MARTIN PECHEUX]

Quiet interesting... Lets come up
the big question. Why ?
>From my Review on Bleaching (in
press, old version on
http://www.esi.fr/~sander/articles/M
isc/Coral_Reef.html) :
"In Bahamian corals, the d13Corg of
symbionts and coral species are
ordered quite similarly to the
general bleaching sensitivity:
begining by the heaviest d13Corg
(and the most sensitive species),
this order is : M. annularis > P.
asteroides > M. complanata > A.
agaricites > Acropora cervicornis >
A. palmata > Dendrogyra > Eusmilia
> Madracis" mirabilis" (data of
Muscatine et al., 1989, Mar. Biol.
100, 185-193)"
M.mirabilis has the lowest 13C,
downto -18-19 per mil. Another good
indication that carbon process are
involved (e.g. CO2 rise).
But bleaching were curiously also
observed, but a detail :
"Muscatine et al. (1979, Bull Mar
Sc 29:572-575) stated: "Most
desirable are naturally-occurring
aposymbiotic corals of the same
species [for experiments].
Unfortunately these are difficult
to obtain, and for most species may
be virtually non-existent. During
the course of investigations (...)
we discovered naturally-occurring
aposymbiotic colonies of Madracis
mirabilis (...) in Discovery Bay,
Jamaica", due to sediment
covering."
Happy time was it !
Happy time for you...