A qualitative biological survey was performed 18-19 June 2008 adjacent to the ICON pylon located at Salt River Bay, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. There were no signs of bleaching. Many colonies of Montastraea faveolata exhibited signs of recent tissue mortality associated with 'Yellow-band' disease as first noted last August and September in St. Croix and Jamaica, respectively. This 'yellow-band' event appears to be Caribbean-wide as other confirmed reports have been made in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas.


Dr. Ernesto Weil will discuss this ongoing and seemingly chronic disturbance at the upcoming International Coral Reef Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale.






Note how cyanobacteria have colonized the recently-dead skeleton of the colony of M. faveolata in this image.











'Yellow-band' is not as aggressive as some of the more well-known coral diseases (e.g., Black-band disease, White plague). It isn't clear if this is related to the high incidence of disease that occurred on those corals which survived the 2005 bleaching or is a separate, unrelated event.

Best regards,
Derek P. Manzello