[Coral-List] Dendrogyra

[Peter Sale]

Hi listers,
I've been following the comments re the essential extirpation of Dendrogyra  in Florida waters.  The fact that this is not a major reef builder (Gene is correct) is beside the point from my perspective.  Here is a monotypic species that looks like it may be on the way out throughout its range, and certainly in a large portion of it.  (I'm being pessimistic but perhaps realistic in predicting total extinction.)  The biodiversity loss is great.  This is a coral (and I am definitely NOT a coral expert) that is phenotypically quite distinctive.  It has one of, if not the most well-connected nerve nets leading to a conspicuous flash when all the polyps retract in unison following a disturbance.  God only knows what other special skills it has tucked amongst its tentacles.  From an evolutionary point of view, its loss is a greater loss than the loss of many other coral species.  My fear is that we are going to have to become used to such losses.  Let's a) strive not to let the losses become un-noticed and routine, and b) use such losses to highlight, and make 'personal', what it means for a reef to gradually lose its species and cease to be a reef.  Getting people to relate to what is happening, to actually feel what is happening, may be the only way to rescue humanity from turning the planet into a wasteland, starting with the reefs.

Peter Sale
www.petersalebooks.com<http://www.petersalebooks.com>
@PeterSale3

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