[Coral-List] Ocean surgeonfish disease

[Lucia M Rodriguez]

Dear Coral list,

I'm a marine biology undergraduate studying the coral reefs in Bonaire,
Dutch Caribbean. I have noticed a very prevalent disease on ocean
surgeonfish, Acanthurus bahianus, (and occasionally on other species) but
no one here has been able to identify the disease or its cause, and I
haven't been able to find any reference to it in any literature.

I'm annexing a picture of a diseased surgeonfish from Bonaire island.
Would anyone happen to know what this particular disease is? If not, would
you give me suggestions or point me to literature that might help me
isolate the pathogen for study?

The black spots are smooth against the skin, not protruding like most
parasitic lesions i've seen.

I will be able to take samples and examine them under the microscope in a
few weeks, but prior information would help me greatly.

Thank you in advance,
Lucia Rodriguez
University of California, San Diego
l2rodrig at ucsd.edu