{"id":334385,"date":"2024-06-24T17:40:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T15:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=334385"},"modified":"2024-06-24T17:40:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T15:40:35","slug":"anemones-push-through-collapsed-corals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=334385","title":{"rendered":"Anemones Push Through Collapsed Corals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Jennifer Marohasy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0jennifer<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the hard corals fringing the Keppel Islands bleached stark white<\/a> last summer. Specifically, the fields of branching Acropora spp.<\/em> went stark white. This was likely caused by a combination of high-water temperatures, low tides and no wind.  I had never seen anything quite like it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water has cooled down now, by about 10 degrees Celsius (50F) since January, and by about 5 degrees C since April (two months ago) when I last dived these coral reefs.  The colour is coming back into the branching Acropora spp.<\/em>, but it is not obvious what percentage of this hard coral is going to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I only got to swim over one reef last Thursday.\u00a0 \u00a0Our skipper from\u00a0Keppel Dive<\/a>\/Brandon ended-up providing mechanical support to a boat that was drifting and while he did manage to get their outboard working again, it meant we lost time and only got to dive the site Outer Rock \u2013 and the same leeward side twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had not dived this site before, but according to our dive leader\/Ines from Keppel Dive<\/a>, it bleached as white as many of the other Keppel Island dive sites \u2013 it was stark white back in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is only 4 metres down to the mooring, and on descent I could see some colour \u2013 there were still some white corals but a minority.   I felt tremendous relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not far from the mooring I could see an area of coral that appeared to be collapsing inwards, on closer inspection I could see that this area of branching Acropora spp.<\/em> had lost against the macro-algae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what, I wondered, was the white stuff poking through?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took me some moments to realise that under the dying coral heavily infested with algae was a mass of sea anemones* \u2013 beginning to poke through and dotted with clown fish.   Most unexpected this apparently expanding mass of anemone was stark white, but obviously very alive and keeping its tentacles clean of algae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All about were symbiotic anemone fish, but mostly hiding from me \u2013 so my photographs are not a good indication of the abundance of these\u00a0Amphiprion sp.<\/em>\/clown fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clown fish are known to live in small groups amongst the anemones. Experiments have found that when these clowns are removed the sea anemones are quickly consumed by butterfly fishes (Chaetodontidae).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It got me thinking about how much competition for space there is at most coral reefs. When one organism, in this case the branching corals finds the conditions too much, something else is likely to take its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember back on January 21, 2020, diving a site known as Twin Towers, at the Ribbon Reefs due east of Cooktown \u2013 much further north than the Keppel Islands.   At the crest of this dive site were so many clown fish and sea anemones \u2013 for as far as the eye could see and visibility was at least 30 metres that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photograph by Julia Sumerling, and it was such a good dive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I wondered at the time how the clowns and anemones had come to dominate \u2013 and what they might have displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wondered had the coralliferous (coral eating) parrot fish eaten out all the hard corals, and so the anemones had a chance to multiply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since diving off Outer Rock on Thursday, I have come to wonder whether repeated bleaching of branching Acropora spp.<\/em> corals might create a dominance of anemones in some situations and for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience reinforces my scepticism of percentage hard coral cover as a best indicator of reef health \u2013 and reef resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite water temperatures being a relatively cool 21C, it is interesting that the sea anemones were very white, devoid of zooxanthellae \u2013 and yet seemingly expanding their range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all the corals fringing Outer Rock are branching Acropora spp.<\/em>, and the sections of this dive site with a greater diversity of coral species have been much less affected by the bleaching.  Of course, they also have a greater diversity of colourful fishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019ve finally purchased a light for my Olympus TG6 camera, but I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m using it to best advantage yet. The following photographs, some with, and some without the light, are from Outer Rock, Keppel Island, last Thursday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Corals beyond the field of branching Acropora.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Because water absorbs light, from the longer wavelengths first, corals often look very washed out blue at depth. Then when I shine a light on them, and change my camera settings to macro, suddenly there is detail and colour.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019m hoping to be back visiting more coral reefs fringing the Keppel Islands over the next few weekends, to stay in the loop consider subscribing at my blog<\/a> for my irregular, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*********<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Sea anemones are a group of predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order Actiniaria.  Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia.  Like corals, sea anemones typically have symbiotic zooxanthella that provide colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks so much to Jenn and the team at Keppel Dive<\/a>, for all the opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unloading, after the dives, back at Fisherman\u2019s Beach Great Keppel Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of the hard corals fringing the Keppel Islands bleached stark white last summer. Specifically, the fields of branching Acropora spp. went stark white. This was likely caused by a combination of high-water temperatures, low tides and no wind. I had never seen anything quite like it before.<\/p>\n

The water has cooled down now, by about 10 degrees Celsius (50F) since January, and by about 5 degrees C since April (two months ago) when I last dived these coral reefs. The colour is coming back into the branching Acropora spp., but it is not obvious what percentage of this hard coral is going to survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":334386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829359,691829362,691821787,691828388,691829360,691829361],"class_list":{"0":"post-334385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-acropora-spp","9":"tag-clown-fish","10":"tag-corals","11":"tag-keppel-islands","12":"tag-outer-rock","13":"tag-sea-anemones","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/01-Feature-smallerP6200435.jpg?fit=2048%2C1741&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1oZj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":344772,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=344772","url_meta":{"origin":334385,"position":0},"title":"All the Dead Coral from the Bleaching. \u00a0Part 4.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Self-censoring is a real thing \u2013 that I refuse to engage in. Over the last year there has been a dramatic reduction in live hard coral cover at many reefs at the Great Barrier Reef, but this has not been documented in official statistics or in the official reporting that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"coral reef\"","block_context":{"text":"coral reef","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=coral-reef"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0P9260106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0P9260106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0P9260106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0P9260106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0P9260106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":336466,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336466","url_meta":{"origin":334385,"position":1},"title":"Squid, Sharks & the Sassy Angelfish at Outer Rock on Friday","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Topside it was a clear sunny day, and on the way back to Great Keppel Island, from the boat we spotted them breeching. So beautiful.","rel":"","context":"In \"coral\"","block_context":{"text":"coral","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=coral"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Feature-SassyP7120368.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Feature-SassyP7120368.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Feature-SassyP7120368.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Feature-SassyP7120368.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Feature-SassyP7120368.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":319930,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=319930","url_meta":{"origin":334385,"position":2},"title":"Stark White \u2013 Fields of Bleached Acropora, Great Keppel Island","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"22\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Scuba tank on my back, I rolled backwards off the Keppel Dive boat at Bald Rock reef yesterday into the ocean. I was hoping that as with previous claims of mass bleaching, this was exaggerated.","rel":"","context":"In \"Bald Rock reef\"","block_context":{"text":"Bald Rock reef","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bald-rock-reef"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0P4190265-copy-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0P4190265-copy-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0P4190265-copy-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0P4190265-copy-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0P4190265-copy-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":337124,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=337124","url_meta":{"origin":334385,"position":3},"title":"Knowing Nature & Ourselves (Part 2.)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I am two dives behind, in explaining the collapse of some of the fields of Acropora spp. across the bay, at the Keppel Islands. And I am off again today, diving. There have been phone calls, some about the Underwater Megafauna Competition, and others from those complaining about what I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Acropora spp.\"","block_context":{"text":"Acropora spp.","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=acropora-spp"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/020240717_162621_669FC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/020240717_162621_669FC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/020240717_162621_669FC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/020240717_162621_669FC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/020240717_162621_669FC9.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":335439,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335439","url_meta":{"origin":334385,"position":4},"title":"Seeing Barren Island Corals \u2013 and Fish.\u00a0 Part 1.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I had such a good weekend, over at Great Keppel Island completing a PADI Advanced Open Water course with Hayley and Ines from Keppel Dive. 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