Abstract
Some colonies of Porites sp. at Poshitra Reef were spotted with pink swollen nodules. These nodules are termed as a condition called “Porites trematodiasis” which is due to an infection of digenetic trematodes. The temperature fluctuation and anthropogenic pressures are perhaps the reasons. This situation indicates that if the corals fail to develop disease resistance and thermal tolerance, the reefs along the Indian subcontinent may experience a phase shift in community structure, which could impact fisheries.
Highlights
Trematode infestation in coral colonies at Poshitra Reef, Gulf of Kachchh Marine National Park, Gujarat, India
The Gulf of Kachchh (GoK) is one of the three gulfs in India, which occupies an area of 7,300km2 with 42 Islands and is enriched with various marine habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves (Nair 2002; Adhavan et al 2014)
A part of the GoK Marine National Park is located at 22.413056 N & 69.191111 E
Summary
TheJournalofThreatetnedTaxafsi dedfciatetdttobuflidfingevfidenceforconservafiongloballybypublfsihfingpeer-revfei wed arfcilesonlfineeverymontthattareasonablyrapfidratet attwww.tthreatetnedtatxa.org.AllarfcilespublfsihedfinJoTTare regfsitetredunderCreafvieCommonsAtrtfibufion4.0IntetrnafionalLfciense unlessottherwfsie menfioned.JoTTallows unrestrtfcitetduseofarfcilesfinanymedfium,reproducfion,anddfsitrtfibufionbyprovfidfingadequatet credftittottheautthors andtthesourceofpublfciafion. These nodules are termed as a condition called “Porites trematodiasis” which is due to an infection of digenetic trematodes (Aeby 2003; Abey 2007; Palmer et al 2009) These trematodes are common parasites of most animal taxa occurring in the intertidal communities as they are often unnoticed by most researchers and are an integral part of intertidal ecosystems (Sousa 1991; Leung et al.2009). The temperature fluctuation and anthropogenic pressures are perhaps the reasons for coral stress (Adhavan et al 2014) and this may be the opportunity for the parasite to infect the stressed coral colonies at Poshitra Reef
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