Coral Line by: Martin Stelfox – Olive Ridley Project
Coral Type: Digitate
Coral species: Acropora secale
Message: Thank you from Gili Lankanfushi to the Olive Ridley Project for all your great work and training!
Note: We are seeing strong survival rates for this species. We have also noted the exponential growth rates, as growth increases after the 6 month period. We expect an even higher growth rate over the next 3 months! A very successful line, but one to watch in terms of bleaching. This coral has some localised patches of bleaching, but has not exhibited any signs of mortality yet!
2 year update: Another one of my favourite lines! This one survived well through the El Nino induced bleaching event, despite the same species being locally wiped out on our house reef! The new transplantation date is set for March 2017. Not only will the complex structure of this species provide a much needed home for fish and invertebrates, but we hope it will spawn, providing new genetic material that we hope will contain whatever made this genotype so resilient against the warming event in 2016.
