Trematode infestation in coral colonies at Poshitra Reef, Gulf of Kachchh Marine National Park, Gujarat, India
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
 Some colonies of Porites sp. at Poshitra Reef were spotted with pink swollen nodules. These nodules are termed as a condition called “Porites trematodiasis†which is due to an infection of digenetic trematodes. The temperature fluctuation and anthropogenic pressures are perhaps the reasons. This situation indicates that if the corals fail to develop disease resistance and thermal tolerance, the reefs along the Indian subcontinent may experience a phase shift in community structure, which could impact fisheries.
Article Details
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Adhavan, D., R.D. Kamboj, N. Marimuthu & M.M. Ballodi (2014). Seasonal variation and climate change influence coral bleaching in Pirotan Island, Gulf of Kachchh Marine National Park, Gujarat. Current Science 107(11): 1780–1781.
Aeby, G.S. (1998). A digenean metacercaria from the reef coral, Porites compressa, experimentally identified as Podocotyloides stenometra. Journal of Parasitology 84: 1259–1261; http://doi.org/10.2307/3284684
Aeby, G.S. (2003). Corals in the genus Porites are susceptible to infection by a larval trematode. Coral Reefs 22: 216; http://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-003-0310-9
Aeby, G.S. (2007). Spatial and temporal patterns of Porites trematodiasis on the reefs of Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. Bulletin of Marine Science 80 (1): 209–218.
Leung, T.L.F., K.M. Donald, D.B. Keeney, A.V. Koehler, R.C. Peoples & R. Poulin (2009). Trematode parasites of Otago Harbour (New Zealand) soft-sediment intertidal ecosystems: life cycles, ecological roles and DNA barcodes. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 43: 857–865; http://doi.org/10.1080/00288330909510044
Nair, V. R. (2002). Status of Flora and fauna of Gulf of Kachchh, India. National Institute of Oceanography, 157pp (http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/87)
NOAA (2014). http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/ocean/sst/anomaly/2014.html
Palmer, C.V., M.S. Roth & R.D. Gates (2009). Red fluorescent protein responsible for pigmentation in trematode-infected Porites compressa tissues. Biology Bulletin 216: 68–74.
Peters, E.C. (1984). “A survey of cellular reactions to environmental stress and disease in Caribbean scleractinian corals.â€Â Helgolander Meeresunters 37: 113–137.
Sousa, W.P. (1991). Can models of soft-sediment community structure be complete without parasites? American Zoologist 31: 821–830.
Wild, C., M. Huettel, A. Klueter, S.G. Kremb, M.Y.M. Rasheed & B.J. Bo (2004). Coral mucus functions as an energy carrier and particle trap in the reef ecosystem. Nature 428: 66–70; http://doi.org/10.1038/nature02344