Kind of amazing, life finds a way........coral may be hardier than we think

[ErikS]

Just got back from vacation & thought I'd share a few pics that demonstrate coral may be much hardier than we think.

 

Scenario - tourist "private" cruise line stop in Haiti (Labadee for those who know). This means it's an area trampled over by tourists darn near every day. It's in a small bay so the fossils don't have to deal with "waves". Turnover is so slow that you can see the suncreen sheen on the water. Coral however has found a way to survive and appears to be making a comback anywhere it's not contantly trampled.

 

Here's the location, pics are taken between the ladder & the rope you see to the right -

 

 

More urchins than you could shake a stick at, there were this type & the more familiar long spined type:

 

 

Nice feather duster, they were also fairly prevelent -

 

Nice hunk of some hard coral -

 

 

Close up of a fairly similar looking stony coral (nice polyp extention) -

 

Close of of an anenome (which were also fairly prevelent) -

 

 

I will admit that the thought crossed my mind "if they can live in this environment what the heck is my problem"

[wildcrazyjoker81]

Wow nice pics. Love the colors on those urchins.

[Djplus1]

What kind of camera did you take these with? I'm testing out my mask/camera next week in Roatan, but I'll also have my waterproof Panasonic with me.

[gmerek2]

Second to last picture kindof looks like stylophora

[Coral Hind]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

[ErikS]

What kind of camera did you take these with? I'm testing out my mask/camera next week in Roatan, but I'll also have my waterproof Panasonic with me.

Nikon AW1 w/ the 11-27.5mm kit lens. This was the 1st trip with this camera, I usually use a Nikon V1 w/ a housing - this is much smaller & easier to work with.

 

Second to last picture kindof looks like stylophora

That's what it looks like to me...........but I know nothing of caribbean corals (since we're not allowed to have them )

 

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

Thanks. I just found it facinating that coral have the rep as being delicate & requiring such great care.....here they are making a comeback wherever the tourists are actively tromping (even with the sunscreen slick - guess that never makes it down to them).

[sen5241b]

Marine biologists went back to an atoll in the Pacific that was used for H-bomb testing to see if the corals came back after 50 years. Some corals came back strong but others did not. It seemed to depend on the type of coral.

[Happyfeet]

Marine biologists went back to an atoll in the Pacific that was used for H-bomb testing to see if the corals came back after 50 years. Some corals came back strong but others did not. It seemed to depend on the type of coral.

 

 

Are you talking about Johnston Atoll? I've been there a couple times now, there is a lot of coral growing now, one of the many nuclear waste site caps is partially submerged (i know right?!) and there are stony corals growing right along the cap. There were a couple test sites a ways away from the atoll, but they were too deep to see any growth so I can't say whether or not anything was growing down there.

 

I Was doing Yellow Crazy Ant management on the Atoll, so I didn't spend much time in the water.

[sen5241b]

Are you talking about Johnston Atoll? I've been there a couple times now, there is a lot of coral growing now, one of the many nuclear waste site caps is partially submerged (i know right?!) and there are stony corals growing right along the cap. There were a couple test sites a ways away from the atoll, but they were too deep to see any growth so I can't say whether or not anything was growing down there.

 

I Was doing Yellow Crazy Ant management on the Atoll, so I didn't spend much time in the water.

 

Very cool

Still 50 years is a long time for a reef to recover. Any weird mutant corals or fish?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Happyfeet]

Very cool

Still 50 years is a long time for a reef to recover. Any weird mutant corals or fish?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nooo nothing like that,it was all very ordinary.

[OUsnakebyte]

Just got back from vacation & thought I'd share a few pics that demonstrate coral may be much hardier than we think.

 

Scenario - tourist "private" cruise line stop in Haiti (Labadee for those who know). This means it's an area trampled over by tourists darn near every day. It's in a small bay so the fossils don't have to deal with "waves". Turnover is so slow that you can see the suncreen sheen on the water. Coral however has found a way to survive and appears to be making a comback anywhere it's not contantly trampled.

 

Here's the location, pics are taken between the ladder & the rope you see to the right -

 

 

Nice hunk of some hard coral -

 

 

Close up of a fairly similar looking stony coral (nice polyp extention) -

 

 

 

 

I will admit that the thought crossed my mind "if they can live in this environment what the heck is my problem"

 

Nice close-up pictures.  Well done.

 

The first larger colony in the top pic is Porites astreoides, with Porites sp. (most likely Porites porites in the top right-ish) next to the Echinometra urchin.

 

Second pic is once again of Porites sp., probably Porites porites, but difficult to tell with a small colony size.  Favia fragum is to the left of Porites, and the slightly bleached nubbin on the top left is Agaricia sp.

 

All of these species are still found in relative abundance on Caribbean reefs, and are also reasonably "hardy" corals that seems to tolarate varying conditions.

 

 

Not to be too much of a Debbi-Downer, but yes, some corals can live in varying stressful conditions and do ok.  What we are still seeing is continuing loss of coral coverage, the flattening of these three-dimmensional landscapes to algal-based communities, and perhaps more importantly, loss of biodiversity.  The Caribbean Acroporids - A. palmata and A. cervicornis - used to dominate these landscapes, and those underwater forests have largely disappeared.  Interestingly enough though... the hybrid of the two - A. prolifera - seems to be... "proliferating" and becoming more abundant.  Hybrid vigor baby...

 

How many "big fish" were around?  As in, large grouper and snappers in the 4-6 ft range?  How many large sharks (other than nurse sharks) in the 6-10 ft range were abundant?  I'm guessing not many, if any at all.  These are now ecosystems that have lost the functionality of large predators.

 

So, will corals still exist?  Yes, most likely.  However, the face of reefs is changing - actually, already has changed - and we are establishing a new baseline for what is considered "normal" in a human and development dominated world.

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited February 25, 2014 by OUsnakebyte

[ErikS]

Nice close-up pictures.  Well done........................

 

 

Not to be too much of a Debbi-Downer, ..........

 

How many "big fish" were around?  .................

 

So, will corals still exist?  Yes, most likely.  However, the face of reefs is changing - actually, already has changed - and we are establishing a new baseline for what is considered "normal" in a human and development dominated world.

 

Thanks for the info, very cool to know what they are.

 

Yeah, we've changed the entire planet - just check the weather (here & England). How will it all shake out? Who's to say.

 

Can't say about the big fish, did see a couple 4' groupers in Cozumel.......but they were 1/2 tame.