Basic HTML Version
International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.38, 306-310
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kills coral tissue (Weber et al., 2006; 2012). The
sulfide-oxidizing bacteria live at the interface between
the aerated water and the necrotic tissue, and oxidize
Hydrogen Sulfide escaping from below with oxygen
from above. They precipitate internal elemental sulfur
granules (Jorgensen, 1977; Fenchel et al., 2012) that
give them a distinctive white mat appearance
(Richardson, 1998). The mat tends to trap and
maintain anoxic condition (Jorgensen and Postgate,
1982) at the tissue surface (Miller and Richardson,
2012), hastening coral mortality. Thus the disease is a
secondary microbial effect of sediment stress (Weber
et al., 2012), not a primary pathogen that attacks coral
tissue directly. The effects are worst where there is
heavy sedimentation, especially coupled to organic
loading (Weber et al., 2012), warm conditions, and
weak water movement.
The increased number and outbreak of coral diseases
reported from the Persian Gulf in the recent years may
be evaluated as a sign of future frequent mass
mortalities due to coral diseases which could result in
reef degradation and coral extinctions. Therefore, it is
necessary to monitor long-term effects of coral
diseases along with doing histological and
microbiological examinations in the Persian Gulf.
Acknowledgement
We thank Dr. T.J. Goreau for his professional comments to improve the
manuscript. English editing was done by T. Goreau and T. McClelland.
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