AOML Communications

AOML Communications

On Posted on by AOML Communications to Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems, Photo Gallery

Coral Bleaching at Cheeca Rocks

Images of corals taken on September 17, 2014, at Cheeca Rocks, which is in the Florida Keys off of Islamorada.

Photo credit: NOAA

  • Coral bleaching occurring in coral colonies at Cheeca Rocks in the Florida Keys. Image credit: NOAA
  • Extensive areas of large colonies of bleached Orbicella faveolata, which was listed on the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species by NOAA within the past month. Image credit: NOAA
  • Colony of Dichocoenia stokesii that is infected with Black-Band Disease at Cheeca Rocks in the Florida Keys. Black-band disease is known to be stimulated by warm water, perhaps due to to a weakening of the immune response of the coral. The black band is a microbial consortium that moves across the coral colony at a rate of 3mm to 1cm/day, leaving behind bare, dead coral skeleton. Image credit: NOAA
  • Coral Disease at Cheeca Rocks
  • Corals Bleaching 2018

Image Captions

From Left:

  1. Coral bleaching occurring in coral colonies at Cheeca Rocks in the Florida Keys. Image credit: NOAA
  2. Extensive areas of large colonies of bleached Orbicella faveolata, an threatened species. Image credit: NOAA
  3. Colony of Dichocoenia stokesii that is infected with Black-Band Disease. Image credit: NOAA
  4. Photograph showing coral bleaching and disease at NOAA’s National Coral Reef Monitoring Program long-term monitoring site at Cheeca Rocks in September 2014.  Coral bleaching and disease have been major drivers of coral reef decline in the tropical western Atlantic.
  5. Coral bleaching occurring in coral colonies at Cheeca Rocks in the Florida Keys. Image credit: NOAA
  6. Photograph of mass coral bleaching at NOAA’s National Coral Reef Monitoring Program long-term monitoring site at Cheeca Rocks in September 2014 during the first year of back-to-back bleaching events.
Tags