Coral Line by: Matthew Larrabee
Coral Type: Digitate
Coral species: Acropora secale
Note: Another line showing exponential growth rate. With time the rate of growth increases, showing that more energy is put into growth during the second 6 months. An interesting line that, along with other lines containing the same species, has survived well.
The corals are certainly ready for transplantation, however in November we are expecting a strong El Nino event here in Maldives. This will cause a rise in sea surface temperature and can severely stress the corals. We believe they have a better chance of survival remaining in the nursery than on the shallower reef. For this reason, we will postpone transplantation until December time. We are excited to get them on the reef, but ultimately their survival during this concerning time is key.
2 yr update: The El Nino event occurred, but contrary to our predictions, it occurred in April 2016. We left your line in the nursery for this event and are pleased we did, as the survival rate is still at about 90%. This was one of the strongest lines during the bleaching event, where locally on the reef, this species can no longer be found. This line is now such an important one for re-seeding our damaged house reef. You will see from the photograph that the line is so heavy, we had to cut it out the nursery and drape it over the frame as it was causing our first nursery to collapse inwards! The new transplant date is set for March 2017. Apologies for not updating the graph, we are backlogged with data collection, but will get round to it. For any questions, please email [email protected]
2 yr update: The El Nino event occurred, but contrary to our predictions, it occurred in April 2016. We left your line in the nursery for this event and are pleased we did, as the survival rate is still at about 90%. This was one of the strongest lines during the bleaching event, where locally on the reef, this species can no longer be found. This line is now such an important one for re-seeding our damaged house reef. You will see from the photograph that the line is so heavy, we had to cut it out the nursery and drape it over the frame as it was causing our first nursery to collapse inwards! The new transplant date is set for March 2017. Apologies for not updating the graph, we are backlogged with data collection, but will get round to it. For any questions, please email [email protected]
