[Coral-List] Black cyanobacterisponge, Terpios hishinota, outbreak in coral reefs and geographic information needed

Allen Chen cac at gate.sinica.edu.tw
Wed Feb 18 00:49:30 EST 2009


Dear Listers,

I am looking for the new information, particularly in the Pacific  
Islands and other Indo-Pacific region, about the outbreak of black  
cyanobacterisponge, Terpios hishinota. This sponge overgrows hard  
corals and any hard substrate when it goes. Outbreak of Teripos was  
observed in Guam at early 1970s, and in Okinawa at mid 1980s. Until  
now, some of the coral reef areas are still covered by black turf- 
like sponge for such long time, according to the status report in 2004.

In Taiwan, we have observed the outbreak in the islands at the east  
coast since 2006. for the preliminary information, please refer to  
this paper.

"The Black Disease of Reef-Building Corals at Green Island, Taiwan -  
Outbreak of a Cyanobacteriosponge, Terpios hoshinota (Suberitidae;  
Hadromerida). Zoological Studies 46(4): 520 (http:// 
zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/464.htm)"

We are organising an integrative project to study this sponge species  
and the mechanism in killing corals. We would like to get more  
information, particularly those islands or reefs that Terpios  
hishinota have been observed but not been reported by the  
documentation. One of the research topic is to figure out the sexual  
and asexual sources and where does the terpios in Taiwan come from  
and go using population genetic approaches. So, any information  
related to this cyanobacterisponge will be grateful appreciated.

Cheers, Allen
Allen Chen, PhD
Associate Research Fellow
BRC-AS, TAIWAN




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