Baby corals are just as susceptible as adults to deadly reef disease, study finds

A new study shows that baby corals are just as vulnerable to a deadly disease as adults are. The findings showed that the disease that affects baby corals is similar to the one that affects adult colonies. This is the first study to show the effects of coral disease on baby corals.

Since baby corals have not been included in surveys of the disease on Florida's reefs, we have likely underestimated the extent of mortality caused by this disease.

To conduct the study, the scientists exposed the four-month-old boulder brain coral and eight-month-old grooved brain coral to water containing colonies with active SCT. Within 48 hours after exposure, both species began to develop blisters.

60 percent of the boulder brain coral babies lost all their tissue and died within two to eight days of being exposed. Only one death occurred when 38 percent of the disease-exposed brain coral babies were exposed to disease.

Smaller and solitary babies were more likely to die than larger and clustered babies.

There is a ray of hope in that size, and there is safety in numbers.

After 20 days, the researchers exposed the remaining coral babies and all of them died within six days.

The research shows that the risk of SCTLD in baby corals that they grow and outplant can be reduced by growing coral recruits larger and promoting grouping before outplanting.

The lack of data on coral recruits suggests that the extent of mortality caused on reefs by SCTLD has been underestimated.

The goal of the research team is to help to breed and raise baby corals that will not succumb to this disease.

Since first appearing in waters off Miami, stony coral tissue loss disease has spread throughout all of Florida's coral reefs as well as the wider Caribbean, affecting over 20 coral species and killing millions of coral colonies. The cause of the deadly disease is not yet known.

The study was written by several people, including Andrew Baker from the UM, and Keri O'Neil from The Florida Aquarium.

More information: Olivia M. Williamson et al, Susceptibility of Caribbean Brain Coral Recruits to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), Frontiers in Marine Science (2022). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.821165 Journal information: Frontiers in Marine Science Citation: Baby corals are just as susceptible as adults to deadly reef disease, study finds (2022, May 4) retrieved 5 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-baby-corals-susceptible-adults-deadly.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.