[Coral-List] Partial bleaching in eastern Puerto Rico

[Hernandez Edwin]

Dear coral-listers:

Hola desde Puerto! This short notice is to inform you
of a minor bleaching event that is currently occurring
on eastern Puerto Rican coral reefs.

During a recent dive (August 19, 2005) at Palominitos
Island (6 km off northeastern PR) we documented
bleaching on the following species:

Montastraea annularis
Montastraea faveolata
Montastraea franksi
Siderastrea siderea
Siderastrea radians
Meandrina meandrites
Stephanocoenia intersepta
Leptoseris cucullata
Agaricia agaricites
Agaricia fragilis
Agaricia humilis
Porites astreoides
Porites porites
Porites furcata
Millepora complanata
Millepora alcicornis
Erythropodium caribbaeorum (encrusting gorgonian)

Bleaching was observed at depths ranging from 5 to 22
m. Most of the colonies were only partially bleached
(i.e., some moderate color loss, or patchy bleaching).
However, there were colonies that were totally
bleached. Most bleaching occurred on surfaces facing
sunlight.

During next week we'll return to that site to collect
data from our permanent transects and will have a
quantitative picture of the bleaching event.
Subsequently, other locations in PR will be visited
during the following weeks.

Temps. approx 29.5C.

Ragards,

Edwin

Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, PhD
Affiliate Researcher

University of Puerto Rico
Department of Biology
Coral Reef Research Group
PO Box 23360
San Juan, PR 00931-3360

Tel. 787-764-0000, x-4855
Fax  787-764-2610
e-mail: coral_giac at yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com