Coral Line by: Nikolay Stoyanov and family
Coral Type: Tabular
Coral species: Acropora hyacinthus
Note: This was one of our best growing lines until April 2016, when the warming effect of El Nino caused a mass coral bleaching event. This event killed 80% of Acroporid corals in the Maldives, particularly this species of Acropora hyacinthus. Our house reef was dominated by this table forming species until the bleaching, which killed 100% of Acropora hyacinthus at all our local snorkeling sites. To have any survive is nothing short of a miracle! We are really pleased to have a few remaining colonies on your line that we can use to transplant and help kick start recovery on our damaged reef! Thank you for donating! To the right, I have posted some images, showing that many of your colonies were partially killed, with the shaded underpart surviving the bleaching- this suggests that much of the mortality during this time was caused by harmful UV rays, which didn’t penetrate the underside- a pro of keeping the older lines suspended in the nursery during the bleaching.
