Recovery of Porites cylindrica from the 2007-summer tissue loss at Shiraho, Ishigaki Island, Japan

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Despite increased efforts in coral-reef monitoring and coral-disease research, reports on rapid recovery of diseased corals are rare. Here, I report fast recovery of Porites cylindrica colonies from live tissue loss, a reported and yet unnamed disease, at Shiraho, Ishigaki Island, Japan. Loss of live tissue and exposure of skeleton in P. cylindrica were first observed in August and September 2007. At the end of January 2008, recovery from the tissue loss was quantified. Mean proportion (±SD) of affected P. cylindrica branches decreased from 0.52±0.16 in September 2007 to 0.08±0.06 in January 2008. The majority of branches in the September sample had multiple, especially small, lesions; whereas in January, branches with multiple lesions were absent and most branches had no lesions. These results indicate that, by the end of January 2008, P. cylindrica colonies in the study area had almost fully recovered from the summer tissue loss by re-growth of live tissue over the denuded skeletons. Except in cases of coral bleaching, the rapid recovery from a disease observed in this study has not previously been reported. The observed quick recovery suggests that some coral-disease outbreaks may have been overlooked in the past and, without proper monitoring, will be overlooked in the future as well. Effects of overlooked diseases may accumulate and can have long-lasting impacts on reef communities, suggesting a need for frequent monitoring.

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