any other signs of bleaching in the Caribbean?

[Alina M. Szmant]

Hello Carolina and others:

Two weeks ago in the Dry Tortugas we observed bleaching of Palythoa (very
white) and moderate bleaching of some Montastraea faveolata type, Porites
(astreoides and porites), Acropora cervicornis, and Agaricia.  Percent of
colonies bleached was still low.  Bleached colonies were observed in both
shallow water (couple of meters deep) as well as down to 20+ meters.

Water temperatures started to warm up very early this spring in Florida (26
oC by late April; usually not until late May or June), and I fear a bad
bleaching year.

Alina Szmant

At 11:03 AM 05/27/2002 -0400, Carolina Bastidas wrote:

> Dear coral-listers,
>
> Within the last two weeks we observed one third of the coral colonies pale
> and bleached at the venezuelan CARICOMP site of Parque Nacional Morrocoy.
> Affected colonies included species of Montrastea, Colpophyllia and Porites
> - the dominant genera in the area - between 4 and 12 meters depth.
>
> We were wondering if those observations could correspond to early signs of
> a widespread bleaching in the Caribbean or some localized phenomena. Any
> other observation?
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> ****************************************************
> Carolina Bastidas
> Depto. de Biología de Organismos
> Universidad Simón Bolívar
> Apdo. 89000 Caracas 1080
> Venezuela
>
> Fax:    58-212-9063046
> Tel:    58-212-9063415
> cbastidas at usb.ve
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~
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*******************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Coral Reef Research Group
Professor of Biology
Center for Marine Science
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
5600  Marvin K. Moss Lane
Wilmington  NC  28409-5928
tel:  (910)962-2362  fax:  (910)962-2410
email:  szmanta at uncwil.edu
http://www.uncwil.edu/people/szmanta/
******************************************************************