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YELLOW-BLOTCH DISEASE OUTBREAK ON REEFS OF THE SAN BLAS ISLANDS, PANAMA
Citation:
Santavy, D L., E. C. Peters, C. Quirolo, J. W. Porter, AND N. Bianchi. YELLOW-BLOTCH DISEASE OUTBREAK ON REEFS OF THE SAN BLAS ISLANDS, PANAMA. CORAL REEFS 18(1):97, (1999).
Impact/Purpose:
Description:
During the post-8th International Coral Reef Symposium field trip to the eastern Caribbean region of Panama, 3-5 July 1996, we observed an extensive outbreak of a new and significant disease of the scleractinian corals Montastraea faveolata and M. annularis. The first reported signs of "yellow-band disease" were on a few colonies of M. faveolata on reefs off Key West Florida (Reeves 1994; Santavy and Peters 1997). This disease is being monitored in the Keys, and histopathological and microbiological studies were initiated. We are now calling this "yellow-blotch disease" based on the unusual pattern of yellowish tissue lightening and to distinguish it from the yellow-band disease reported by Korrubel and colleagues in the Arabian Gulf.