Coral Mortality and African Dust

Black Band Disease

Black band disease: Below is a brain coral infected with black band disease. The band of tissue-killing bacterial slime radiates outward like a ringworm at a rate of up to 1 cm per day during summer warm-water conditions. The white area in the center is dead tissue-free coral skeleton. The dead skeleton will be attacked by boring algae, boring sponges, boring clams, and parrot fish which will gnaw away the skeleton. Together these organisms remove about 1 cm per year. This means that in 100 years, a 1-meter high coral head will be completely consumed and converted to sediment. Black band disease on brain corals was first reported in Bermuda in the early 1970s, but became rampant in other species in the Florida Keys, and elsewhere, beginning in 1985. large version [136 k]