Florida's Mystery Coral-Killer Identified

Authors

Laurie L. Richardson, Florida International University
Walter Goldberg, Florida International University
Kevin G. Kuta, Florida International University
Richard B. Aronson, Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Garriet W. Smith, University of South Carolina
Kim B. Ritchie, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
John C. Halas, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Joshua S. Feingold, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Steven L. Miller, University of North Carolina - Wilmington

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

4-9-1998

Abstract

An unusual coral disease appeared on the Florida Reef Tract in June 1995. It was distinct in its microbiology, its pattern of tissue degradation, the species susceptible to it, and its regional distribution. Symptoms included a sharp line between healthy and diseased tissue, as occurs with other coral diseases, but the pathogen responsible for the new outbreak seemed more virulent, affected a wider variety of species, and destroyed tissue much more rapidly than these other 'line' or 'band' diseases. We have identified the pathogen responsible for this new disease as a new species of Sphingomonas.

DOI

10.1038/33302

Volume

392

Issue

6676

First Page

557

Last Page

558

Comments

©Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1998

NSUWorks Citation

Laurie L. Richardson, Walter Goldberg, Kevin G. Kuta, Richard B. Aronson, Garriet W. Smith, Kim B. Ritchie, John C. Halas, Joshua S. Feingold, and Steven L. Miller. 1998. Florida's Mystery Coral-Killer Identified .Nature , (6676) : 557 -558. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/708.