Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease [SCTLD]

[GordMay]

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease [SCTLD] is wiping out coral, in Florida, and the Caribbean.

A silent killer has spread to corals off 20 nations so far, and it is the worst coral disease researchers have ever seen. In only seven years, it has spread throughout Florida and the Caribbean. Scientists are racing to understand, and hopefully slow or stop it. Stony coral tissue loss disease [SCTLD] afflicts at least 22 species.

More about ➥ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/a...E5FEB378C92DA8

“Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreaks in The Bahamas” ~ by Craig Dahlgren et al
➥ https://www.frontiersin.org/articles...21.682114/full

[GordMay]

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is a new lethal disease first reported in Florida in 2014. The cause of the disease is unknown but it is affecting >30 species of corals especially brain, pillar, star and starlet corals. The disease spreads quickly causing high coral mortality. Since then, outbreaks of SCTLD have been confirmed in the Caribbean off Jamaica, Mexico, Sint Maarten, the US Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos Islands, Saint-Martin, Belize, Sint Eustatius, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, Honduras and Martinique.

Characteristic of this disease is that sick colonies display multiple lesions and quickly die. Highly susceptible species are the meandroid corals–i.e., pillar corals (Dendrogyra cylindrus), elliptical star corals (Dichocoenia stokesii), smooth flower corals (Eusmilia fastigiata) and maze corals (Meandrina spp.). Starlet corals that develop numerous “blotchy” lesions, as well as diverse brain and star (boulder) corals, are also dying fairly quickly, followed by star corals (Orbicella spp., Montastraea cavernosa) and other coral species.

SCTLD is suspected to be a bacterial pathogen, spreading by contact or through waterways. SCTLD has high mortality rate, and can cause death of a colony, within weeks to months.

More ➥ https://www.agrra.org/coral-disease-outbreak/

Reef researchers, managers and sport divers should continue to be on the lookout for sites with an unusually high percentage of diseased and very recently dead corals. If you see any instances of disease, please submit your findings via the survey form[s] below.

Basic Report Form ➥ https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/8...aps.arcgis.com

Detailed Report Form ➥ https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/8...6da54fe839edc7

AGRRA Detailed Survey Form Tutorial Video ➥

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWp08W_E3rg

[GordMay]

Historical Timeline SCTLD:

Fall 2014: Isolated sites with significant coral disease were reported near Virginia Key (Miami-Dade County).

Fall 2015: Widespread disease was confirmed as far north as Pompano Beach down to Biscayne National Park.

Summer 2016: The disease continued to spread to Palm Beach County and to the Upper Florida Keys (Lower Matecumbe Key).

Spring 2017: Reports of widespread disease were confirmed as far north as St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County and to the southern boundary of the Upper Florida Keys.

Spring 2018: The disease expanded into the Lower Florida Keys and was in Jamaica.

Summer 2018: Signs of disease were reported in the Mexican Caribbean.

Fall 2018: Disease corals were discovered in St. Maarten.

Winter 2018-2019: The disease outbreak reached beyond Key West, and disease signs were reported in St. Thomas, USVI.

Spring 2019: Disease observed in the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos.

Summer 2019: Disease detected in Belize and St. Eustatius.

Winter 2019-2020: Disease reported in St. John, USVI, Culebra, Puerto Rico, and Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas (NOAA).

[GordMay]

This photo shows rapid progression of tissue-loss disease across a colony of symmetrical brain coral (Pseudodiploria strigosa).
Photo: Brian Reckenbiel/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission


SEAFAN Citizen Science Reports Result in Successful Coral Disease Intervention

The Southeast Florida Action Network (SEAFAN) is the DEP Coral Reef Conservation Program's marine incident reporting program for citizen scientists within the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Area (Coral ECA).

Coral Reef Conservation Program staff coordinate response efforts tailored to the incidents and locations.
If you are ever out on the water in the Coral ECA and see something that doesn't look right, please fill out a report at www.SEAFAN.net.

On February 5th, SEAFAN received a report of many corals with signs of disease offshore Broward County. DEP notified the stony coral tissue loss disease intervention team members at Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Brian Walker's strike team was able to find the large symmetrical brain coral (Pseudodiploria strigosa) colony, apply an antibiotic treatment, and tag the coral. Intervention strike teams along the reef secure tags to treated corals and ask that citizen scientists submit photos of tagged corals when they see them to aid in monitoring.

Dr. Walker's team successfully treated 14 other diseased corals in the area. This marks the first time that intervention practitioners were able to locate and treat a sick coral from a SEAFAN report submitted in the Coral ECA!

More ➥ https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/coral-disease/

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Dr. Brian Walker's strike team was able to find the large symmetrical brain coral (Pseudodiploria strigosa) colony, apply an antibiotic treatment, and tag the coral. Intervention strike teams along the reef secure tags to treated corals and ask that citizen scientists submit photos of tagged corals when they see them to aid in monitoring.

Dr. Walker's team successfully treated 14 other diseased corals in the area. This marks the first time that intervention practitioners were able to locate and treat a sick coral from a SEAFAN report submitted in the Coral ECA!

More ➥ https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/coral-disease/

Thanks for posting this. These two paragraphs are encouraging, and I hope this means that there is hope. I will keep an eye out for this.

[Ken Z]

Thank you gordmay, excellent info that needs huge attention. The oceans need so much help, and people need so much education.

[GordMay]

The Bad news:
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease is proving to be unprecedented, in terms of its range, speed and duration, and deadliness for corals.

The Good news:
But, not all reef-building corals are susceptible.
Two of the most-recognized, and also among the most endangered species, staghorn and elkhorn coral, are not impacted. Additionally, not all susceptible species, within the disease zone, are affected, suggesting some may be more resilient.

A new study [1], by researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, reveals how a common antibiotic, used to treat bacterial infections in humans, is showing promise in treating disease-affected Montastraea cavernosa coral colonies, in situ. M. cavernosa, also known as the Great Star Coral, is a hard or stony coral found widely throughout the tropical western Atlantic, including several regions currently affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. Preserving M. cavernosa colonies is of particular importance due to its high abundance and role as a dominant reef builder in the northern section of Florida’s Coral Reef.

The objective of the study [1], published in Scientific Reports , was to experimentally assess the effectiveness of two intervention treatments: chlorinated epoxy, and amoxicillin combined with Core Rx/Ocean Alchemists Base 2B, as compared to untreated controls.

Results showed that the Base 2B plus amoxicillin treatment had a 95 percent success rate at healing individual disease lesions. However, it did not necessarily prevent treated colonies from developing new lesions over time.

Chlorinated epoxy treatments were not significantly different from untreated control colonies, suggesting that chlorinated epoxy treatments are an ineffective intervention technique for stony coral tissue loss disease.

[1] “Assessing the effectiveness of two intervention methods for stony coral tissue loss disease on Montastraea cavernosa” ~ by Erin N. Shilling et al
➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86926-4


See also:

“Optimizing Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) Intervention Treatments on Montastraea cavernosa in an Endemic Zone” ~ by Brian K. Walker et al
➥ https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewco...c_facarticles/

“Effectiveness of topical antibiotics in treating corals affected by Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease” ~ by Karen L. Neely et al
➥ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7292019/