[Coral-List] Dendrogyra

[Longin Kaczmarsky]

An important ecological role of Pillar coral in ecosystems associated with coral reefs may not be so much as a reef-builder but as isolated refugia interspersed in patch reefs. When I was diving and snorkeling in the 1980s, long before getting a PhD researching coral diseases, I would cover very large tracts of near-shore patch reefs 6 hours+/day, almost every day, for about six years collecting fish and inverts for the aquarium trade (during a time when these organisms were far more abundant). This gave me great insights into distribution patterns for many reef species. During this time, I recorded and mapped favorable locations/conditions for hundreds of species (fish, inverts, and algae). I would particularly make note of the "rare" giant Dendrogyra colonies because they were magnets for certain species that would concentrate on them, colorful juvenile jewelfish for example. They were more often found in open bottom areas, near to patches of more diverse reefs, rather than integrated in a mixed species reef structure.

Lonnie Kaczmarsky, PhD


________________________________
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of Vassil Zlatarski via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2021 6:46 AM
To: Coral-List Subscribers <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Dendrogyra

With all my deep pain for the degradation of coral reefs, the
investigations since the 1970s in Cuban Archipelago and in the 1980s around
Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico never established that Pillar coral (Dendrogyra
cylindrus) was a significant reef builder.

Vassil

On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 5:17 AM Eugene Shinn via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> In all my 60+ yearsdiving in the Florida Keys (starting in my senior
> year in high school(1953) I never saw a mailbox placed on pillar coral.
> Remember there were few residents in the Keys and major canal dredging
> started in the late 1950s extending into the early 1960s. I watched it
> all. Major changes began in the 1970s much of it spurred on later by
> creation of the Key Largo Coral Reef Sanctuary, the first Burger King,
> and creation of dive shops.
>
> While doing geological research and drilling around 100  reef cores we
> never encountered Pillar coral. Living ones were rare in the 50s and 60s
> and were never considered significant reef builders. They never could
> have created significant habitat for reef fishes or other reef fauna. I
> have photographed large ones on Jamaican reefs but I can not speak for
> the rest of the Caribbean.Nevertheless, I seriously doubt they have ever
> been significant reef builders anywhere in the Caribbean. They also do
> not appear in exposures of Pleistocene coral reefs. You will not see
> them in the beautiful exposures of reef limestone in the Florida Keys
> Fossil reef quarry on Windley key.Gene
>
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