[Coral-List] Bleaching started in Ryukyu Islands

[Hajime Kayanne]

Dear Coral-list,

We observed bleaching started in Shiraho Reef, Ishigaki Island, southernmost Ryukyus, early July.
Small to medium sized massive Porites bleached close to the shoreline, while large-size massive and branching Porites have not bleached yet.
Pavona and some Acropora were bleached.
After the passage of Typhoon #1 south to the island, SST increase might be suppressed, but the Ryukyu Islands are covered by areas of “watch” or “warning” level in NOAA Coral Reef Watch, and we fear the bleaching would expand toward the mid-summer.
Ryukyu Islands and southern coast of Japan were the last area of the severe bleaching during the 1997-1998 event, and Japanese reef scientists closely watch the status of coral reefs.
The previous events and recovery after them along permanent transect in Shiraho Reef were published in Kayanne et al. (2002) Mar Ecol Prog Ser 239: 93-103 and Harii et al. (2014) Mar Ecol Prog Ser 509: 171-180. We hope we need not add another event along the transect.

Best wishes,
Hajime Kayanne
University of Tokyo
kayanne at eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp