On July 15, 2013, Angela Dona-Richards, a UH graduate student and EOR Network member, reported a possible disease outbreak on Porites evermanni from Nautilus Reef in Kewalo, Oahu. She provided pictures of the affected colonies with lesions appearing as swollen, bright pink patches.  On August 6, 2013, a multi-agency response team was sent out to investigate the area consisting of USGS (Dr. Thierry Work, Renee Breeden), DAR (Jono Blodgett, Derek LeVault) and UH/HIMB (Dr. Greta Aeby, Maya Walton, David Slater).  They located the site of the outbreak at a subsurface day-use mooring buoy on Nautilus Reef.

Site Map

P. Evermanni colony with pink, swollen patches. Black and white bar for scale = approx 10 cm, Photo Credit: G. Aeby

EOR Rapid Response Observations:

Affected area description:

• spur and groove structure
• affected area at approximately 30 ft
• low relief
• 15.7% coral cover

Outbreak description:

• 46.2% of P. evermanni colonies within the response area (a 25 X 6 m belt transect) was affected by the disease
• significantly higher disease prevalence compared to other outbreaks
• lesions similar to an outbreak in 2004 on the Big Island

P. evermanni with similar swollen patches from Kona (November 2004), Photo Credit: G. Aeby

Next Steps:

• Dr. Work will process collected  samples and determine histology
• It is recommended that the site be re-surveyed in a month to study and monitor the progression of the disease