Coral Line by: Vilma Tauraite
Coral Type: Tabular
Coral Species: Acropora hyacinthus
3 year update: As you can see from the graphs, this line experienced mass mortality at 2.5 years. We measured in June 2016, following the El Nino induced bleaching event. This species was one of the worst hit on the reef and in the nursery. We kept the lines in the nursery as the event was predicted and we hoped the corals would survive better in our nursery than if we transplanted them. We made the right decision as on our reef, every Acropora hyacinthus died. In our nursery we still have some colonies that survived. This line has only one surviving coral, which will be allowed to grow bigger before being fragmented and grown on a new line. This is such an important coral colony, and gives us hope that the species will recover! We hope the warming event will not happen again in the near future and will allow us to plant more corals.
