Prevalence of skeletal tissue growth anomalies in a scleractinian coral: Turbinaria mesenterina of Malvan Marine Sanctuary, eastern Arabian Sea

Abstract

Skeletal tissue growth anomalies (STAs) of corals are capable of causing considerable degradation of reef health. This study is the first report of growth anomalies in Turbinaria corals and the first descriptive study of Indian corals. T. mesenterina colonies at 2 sites were affected by small, round to irregularly shaped growth anomalies. Prevalence of STAs was observed to be higher in T. mesenterina colonies with larger diameters. Prevalence of STAs on T. mesenterina was 71% at Site 1 and 40% at Site 2. Affected colonies were seen to be undergoing tissue damage and infiltration by filamentous algae. We describe the gross morphology of growth anomalies which can act as baseline data for growth anomalies from this region, but further investigation is needed to understand the form and etiology of this coral disease