Bare Skeleton Research Articles

The Climate Change Conundrum: A Case for Course Correction in the Global Regulatory Approach$

The Conference of Parties (COP) of the multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) provides a platform at a specific periodicity (one, two or three years) to review work of the Convention in question. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a ‘universal’ convention with 198 parties. The 28th annual meeting of the COP (UNFCCC) was held in Dubai (UAE) during 30 November - 13 December 2023. The UN provides ‘secretariat’ support to the UNFCCC, hence the usage of prefix ‘United Nations’. It is called a ‘framework convention’ since it was adopted with a bare skeleton on 09 May 1992. It required ‘fleshing out’ of the UNFCCC with required elements to make it work for the “‘ultimate objective” of “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (Article 2). It led to the adoption of the (“related legal instruments”) 1997 Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Agreement. The climate change regime now comprises these three legal instruments that seek to address the global climate problematique. Whereas COP27 (Sharm El-Shaik; 06–21 November 2022) was known for adoption of the decision on “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters, COP28 unveiled the first global climate ‘stocktake’. This took place on the heels of UNEP Emissions Gap Report (20 November 2023) that issued warming that “world is heading for a temperature rise far above the Paris Agreement goals unless countries deliver more than they have promised”. The UNEP report called for the GHG emissions (by 2030) to “fall by 28 per cent for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42 per cent for the 1.5°C pathway”. Thus, there is a big chasm between what is laid down in the climate change regulatory framework, what is scientifically ordained and what is actually given effect on the ground by the states Parties. After 30 years (1994–2024), the resultant ‘conundrum’ presents a challenge at this juncture of planetary crisis. It calls for the state Parties to the global climate change regime to engage in a major course correction in the current global climate change regulatory approaches for securing our planetary future.

A highly effective therapeutic ointment for treating corals with black band disease.

Infectious disease outbreaks are a primary contributor to coral reef decline worldwide. A particularly lethal disease, black band disease (BBD), was one of the first coral diseases reported and has since been documented on reefs worldwide. BBD is described as a microbial consortium of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing and sulfide-oxidizing bacteria, and heterotrophic bacteria and archaea. The disease is visually identified by a characteristic dark band that moves across apparently healthy coral tissue leaving behind bare skeleton. Despite its virulence, attempts to effectively treat corals with BBD in the field have been limited. Here, we developed and tested several different therapeutic agents on Pseudodiploria spp. corals with signs of active BBD at Buck Island Reef National Monument in St. Croix, USVI. A variety of therapies were tested, including hydrogen peroxide-based treatments, ointment containing antibiotics, and antiviral/antimicrobial-based ointments (referred to as CoralCure). The CoralCure ointments, created by Ocean Alchemists LLC, focused on the dosing regimen and delivery mechanisms of the different active ingredients. Active ingredients included carbamide peroxide, Lugol's iodine solution, along with several proprietary essential oil and natural product blends. Additionally, the active ingredients had different release times based on treatment: CoralCure A-C had a release time of 24 hours, CoralCure D-F had a release time of 72 hours. The ointments were applied directly to the BBD lesion. Also, jute rope was saturated with a subset of these CoralCure ointment formulations to assist with adhesion. These ropes were then applied to the leading edge of the BBD lesion for one week to ensure sufficient exposure. Corals were revisited approximately three to five months after treatment application to assess disease progression rates and the presence/absence of lesions-the metrics used to quantify the efficacy of each treatment. Although most of the treatments were unsuccessful, two CoralCure rope formulations-CoralCure D rope and CoralCure E rope, eliminated the appearance of BBD in 100% of the corals treated. As such, these treatments significantly reduced the likelihood of BBD occurrence compared to the untreated controls. Additionally, lesions treated with these formulations lost significantly less tissue compared with controls. These results provide the mechanisms for an easily employable method to effectively treat a worldwide coral disease.

Pengamatan Laju Penyakit White Syndrome Pada Montipora sp. Di Pulau Pramuka, Taman Nasional Laut Kepulauan Seribu, DKI Jakarta

Coral disease now became main factor of coral degradation in the world. There is still a few report about coral disease in Kepulauan Seribu Marine National Park (TNKPS) include of white syndrome (WS) in Montipora sp. WS was characterized by white area on coral surface at several stages. WS had caused coral tissue loss and leaved bare CaCO3 skeleton that was caused by pathogenic Vibrio coralliitycus associated with other microorganisms. In this study the progress of WS calculated by measurement of the distances of WS that moved from diseased to healty coral surface. All calculations was performed used ImageJ Software. Our result showed that WS progression rate in first week was 9.06 cm2 and the second week was 2.37 cm2. Total coral tissue mortality was 12.03% for 2 weeks.

All Under One Roof by Evelyn Schlag

of Bruce, the ultimate self-actualized man of czarist Russia. Besides this and a couple of other poems with direct Soviet themes, Maxim’s verse tends toward the universal and timeless —it is the poet’s long lens for processing present developments. In “The Hulking Carcass of a Dead Orca” (2010), for example , “The choking scent of rancid fat, / foul and ineffable, will all / but replace the surrounding air. // Weeks will pass, months or years / perhaps, before dwellers from distant climes / discover its bare skeleton. // They will saw it down to small // ornaments , then write on these white / shards about the frailty of living.” He sometimes calls up historical comparisons as a way to characterize our present fraught state, such as in the poem “Homer’s Been Shredded to Quotes”: “Homer’s been shredded to quotes for the billboards: / his scrolls unfurl and spread / to paper the walls, his hexameters bobbing —balloons / we tied to silk threads.” As well, Amelin seems never too far from spiritual awakening. In “Vindictive Goddess, Statue Now Woken,” and giving a nod to the verbose nineteenth-century Russian classicist poet Dmitry Khvostov, he traces the strained trajectory of the poet from the vulgar to the spiritually profound: “How, without breaking into Pindaric odes, / can I stand by on the sidelines? / I’d blow my poetry’s fiery load / on the few years I’m resigned / to. Having removed this pearl—iridescent, / smooth—God gathers it in.” The translations into English collected here have been a decade-long labor of love by Derek Mong and Anne O. Fisher. Their exquisite care with these gems has not gone unnoticed—earlier this year, they won the Cliff Becker Book Prize of the American Literary Translators Association for this volume. As the ALTA commendation notes, “There are even places where these translations equal or, perhaps, surpass the original in their crispness and linguistic innovation, making this collection not only a remarkable accomplishment of poetic translation but truly a pleasure to read.” What more do you need to know? This is a volume to treasure. Andrew Singer Trafika Europe Evelyn Schlag All Under One Roof Trans. Karen Leeder. Manchester, UK. Carcanet. 2018. 104 pages. When I was very young and growing up in Boulder, Colorado, I was sure that the mountains I saw every day were a massive painting on the side of the universe rather than an actual formation of rocks and dirt. The moment I understood the geology of the place, the world in my mind quickly Omar Pimienta Album of Fences Trans. Jose Antonio Villarán Cardboard House Press This collection is a fascinating combination of poetry (presented in both Spanish and English en face) and photography portraying the duality of living on the US/Mexican border through personal anecdotes and photos. With little punctuation or capitalization, the pieces feel dusty yet hurried, as if rushing to convey meaning against a backdrop of transnational urgency. Seek After: On Seven Modern Lyric Poets Ed. David Baker Stephen F. Austin State University Press Bringing together twenty-five “poetcritics ” of the modern era, this collection seeks the heart of lyric poetry’s seven most prominent writers from England and the US: John Keats, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, Gwendolyn Brooks, and W. S. Merwin. Spanning from the erudite to the everyday, these essays give readers access to the underpinnings of an oftenobtuse art form and, while academic, can give readers a deeper dive into this form and the writers who embody it. Nota Bene WORLDLIT.ORG 85 took new shape. The experience of reading Evelyn Schlag’s All Under One Roof follows a similar pattern of discovery, with childlike observations of the situations and places as the speakers of her poems grow in their own personal revelations. The careful translation by Karen Leeder of every aspect of Schlag’s writing is essential in understanding the depth of each image and metaphor, and where some line breaks or punctuation choices seem to clunk with the hammer of language in translation, the overall effect is that of one seeing and experiencing the world for the very first time. In the afterword to this book, Schlag herself writes of an...

Blood Meridian's Deathcarts and Angels of Death

Abstract This note explores the cultural implications of the Penitente sect's deathcart and figure of Death armed with bow and arrow, and identifies McCarthy's source in Fergusson's Rio Grande. The Penitentes' female death angel, La Muerte, is represented either as a bare skeleton or in feminine garb. The ungendered skeleton in Blood Meridian allows for the protagonist's misinterpretation of the figure as male and thus a reminder of his Indian-fighting. The eldress in the rocks, wearing the icons of Our Lady of Guadalupe but unrecognized by the man, is another death angel, a conflation of the Virgin and Death. The deathcart appears not only in the Penitente procession, but also in the tarot reader's prediction of Black Jackson's death and again in the buffalo bonecarts. Together these tropes support the novel's representation of border, national, and human history as the procession of Death Triumphant.

Too Many Fancy Bottles! In Nepal's New Power Sector Institutions Electricity Development Decade 2072

Seven years after Prime Minister Dr. BR Bhattarai’s 38 Point programs to Mitigate National Electricity Crisis, the Energy Ministry of Prime Minister KP Sharma (Oli) recently unveiled another program to Eradicate National Electricity Crisis along with a concept paper and work plan on Electricity Development Decade 2072. This article will focus only with the Energy Ministry’s institutional arrangements. The Energy Ministry appears to have come to the grand conclusion that the present state of Bungled power crisis is all due to the Bundled NEA. Hence, the Ministry’s prescription has been to unbundle NEA down to its bare skeleton! There is not a word on the Department of Electricity Development or the Nepal Investment Board – both high caste thread-bearing organizations! It is hoped that a thorough Implementation Completion Report (ICR) will be conducted on three decades of bungled/bundled power sector in Nepal by the World Bank, now that the prodigal son has returned after the 1995 Arun III debacle. Without the findings of that ICR/PCR, the multilaterals should refrain from the itch to unload their one billion US$ excess baggage on Nepal’s power sector.HYDRO Nepal JournalJournal of Water, Energy and EnvironmentIssue: 19Page: 6-10

Ciliate communities consistently associated with coral diseases

Incidences of coral disease are increasing. Most studies which focus on diseases in these organisms routinely assess variations in bacterial associates. However, other microorganism groups such as viruses, fungi and protozoa are only recently starting to receive attention. This study aimed at assessing the diversity of ciliates associated with coral diseases over a wide geographical range. Here we show that a wide variety of ciliates are associated with all nine coral diseases assessed. Many of these ciliates such as Trochilia petrani and Glauconema trihymene feed on the bacteria which are likely colonizing the bare skeleton exposed by the advancing disease lesion or the necrotic tissue itself. Others such as Pseudokeronopsis and Licnophora macfarlandi are common predators of other protozoans and will be attracted by the increase in other ciliate species to the lesion interface. However, a few ciliate species (namely Varistrombidium kielum, Philaster lucinda, Philaster guamense, a Euplotes sp., a Trachelotractus sp. and a Condylostoma sp.) appear to harbor symbiotic algae, potentially from the coral themselves, a result which may indicate that they play some role in the disease pathology at the very least. Although, from this study alone we are not able to discern what roles any of these ciliates play in disease causation, the consistent presence of such communities with disease lesion interfaces warrants further investigation.

Translation, adaptation or amputation? Arctic explorer-writer-anthropologist Peter Freuchen’s little-known Danish translation of Moby Dick

This article discusses how the simplification of adaptation can actually empower a translation with a historically and culturally significant function. The study analyses and discusses the fairly unknown first Danish translation of Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick made in 1942. The translation was made by the internationally famous Arctic explorer and writer Peter Freuchen, and his version of the novel has been so drastically cut down to the bare skeleton of the plot that we may speak of amputation rather than adaptation. The result is a so-called real “man’s book”, as is pronounced on the back cover of the book, but what is a man’s book? The aim of this study is to draw attention to an interesting story of translation strategies for a male readership as well as to provide new insight into verbal adaptations classified as interlingual translation.

Growth rates and ages of deep-sea corals impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The impact of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill on deep-sea coral communities in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is still under investigation, as is the potential for these communities to recover. Impacts from the spill include observation of corals covered with flocculent material, with bare skeleton, excessive mucous production, sloughing tissue, and subsequent colonization of damaged areas by hydrozoans. Information on growth rates and life spans of deep-sea corals is important for understanding the vulnerability of these ecosystems to both natural and anthropogenic perturbations, as well as the likely duration of any observed adverse impacts. We report radiocarbon ages and radial and linear growth rates based on octocorals (Paramuricea spp. and Chrysogorgia sp.) collected in 2010 and 2011 from areas of the DWH impact. The oldest coral radiocarbon ages were measured on specimens collected 11km to the SW of the oil spill from the Mississippi Canyon (MC) 344 site: 599 and 55calyr BP, suggesting continuous life spans of over 600 years for Paramuricea biscaya, the dominant coral species in the region. Calculated radial growth rates, between 0.34μmyr−1 and 14.20μmyr−1, are consistent with previously reported proteinaceous corals from the GoM. Anomalously low radiocarbon (Δ14C) values for soft tissue from some corals indicate that these corals were feeding on particulate organic carbon derived from an admixture of modern surface carbon and a low 14C carbon source. Results from this work indicate fossil carbon could contribute 5–10% to the coral soft tissue Δ14C signal within the area of the spill impact. The influence of a low 14C carbon source (e.g., petro-carbon) on the particulate organic carbon pool was observed at all sites within 30km of the spill site, with the exception of MC118, which may have been outside of the dominant northeast–southwest zone of impact. The quantitatively assessed extreme longevity and slow growth rates documented here highlight the vulnerability of these long-lived deep sea coral species to disturbance.

Crown-of-thorns starfish

Crown-of-thorns starfish

The Possible Role of Cyanobacterial Filaments in Coral Black Band Disease Pathology

Black band disease (BBD), characterized by a black mat or line that migrates across a coral colony leaving behind it a bare skeleton, is a persistent disease affecting massive corals worldwide. Previous microscopic and molecular examination of this disease in faviid corals from the Gulf of Eilat revealed a number of possible pathogens with the most prominent being a cyanobacterium identified as Pseudoscillatoria coralii. We examined diseased coral colonies using histopathological and molecular methods in order to further assess the possible role of this cyanobacterium, its mode of entry, and pathological effects on the coral host tissues. Affected areas of colonies with BBD were sampled for examination using both light and transmission electron microscopies. Results showed that this dominant cyanobacterium was found on the coral surface, at the coral-skeletal interface, and invading the polyp tissues and gastrovascular cavity. Although tissues surrounding the invasive cyanobacterial filaments did not show gross morphological alterations, microscopic examination revealed that the coral cells surrounding the lesion were dissociated, necrotic, and highly vacuolated. No amoebocytes were evident in the mesoglea of affected tissues suggesting a possible repression of the coral immune response. Morphological and molecular similarity of the previously isolated BBD-associated cyanobacterium P. coralii to the current samples strengthens the premise that this species is involved in the disease in this coral. These results indicate that the cyanobacteria may play a pivotal role in this disease and that the mode of entry may be via ingestion, penetrating the coral via the gastrodermis, as well as through the skeletal-tissue interface.

Histological observations in the Hawaiian reef coral, Porites compressa, affected by Porites bleaching with tissue loss

The scleractinian finger coral Porites compressa is affected by the coral disease Porites bleaching with tissue loss (PBTL). This disease initially manifests as bleaching of the coenenchyme (tissue between polyps) while the polyps remain brown with eventual tissue loss and subsequent algal overgrowth of the bare skeleton. Histopathological investigation showed a loss of symbiont and melanin-containing granular cells which was more pronounced in the coenenchyme than the polyps. Cell counts confirmed a 65% reduction in symbiont density. Tissue loss was due to tissue fragmentation and necrosis in affected areas. In addition, a reduction in putative bacterial aggregate densities was found in diseased samples but no potential pathogens were observed.

Sponge disease in the Adriatic Sea

AbstractA mass mortality episode involving three marine dyctioceratid sponges, Ircina variabilis, Sarcotragus spinosulus and Spongia officinalis, was observed on ‘Scoglio del Trave’ (Conero Promontory, North Adriatic Sea) in late summer 2009. In this area, calm sea and high temperatures throughout summer created unfavorable environmental conditions, leading to the outbreak of the disease. Affected specimens showed evident necrotic areas and portions with bare skeleton, and many specimens of S. spinosulus were covered with a white mat of cyanobacteria. In September 2009, about 22% of these demosponges suffered from this disease. The mortality event ceased when sea temperature dropped below 20 °C. Small specimens turned out to be more sensitive to the diseases, whereas the damaged tissues of large specimens were able to recover. In October, the damaged specimens were detached by the rough sea and more than 900 beached sponges were found along the 1‐km‐long beach, showing the seriousness of the phenomenon, which probably involved not only the area studied but also areas adjacent to it.

Porpostoma guamensis n. sp., a Philasterine Scuticociliate Associated With Brown-Band Disease of Corals

Brown band disease of coral is caused by a ciliate that consumes the tissue of the corals in the genus Acropora. We describe the ciliate associated with this disease on Guam, based on: general morphology, division stages, and ciliature observed on live and protargol-stained specimens; modification of the oral structures between divisional stages, observed on protargol-stained specimens; and some aspects of behavior in field and laboratory studies. Porpostoma guamensis n. sp. is elongate and has ciliature typical for the genus; live cells are 70-500 × 20-75 μm; the macronucleus is sausage-like, elongate but often bent, positioned centrally along the main cell axis; the oral ciliature follows a basic pattern, being composed of three adoral polykinetidal regions, as described for other species in the genus, although there is variability in the organization, especially in large cells where the three regions are not easily distinguished. Ciliates fed on coral with their oral region adjacent to the tissue, which they engulfed, leaving the coral a bare skeleton. Both zooxanthellae and nematocysts from coral occurred in the ciliates. Zooxanthellae appeared to be ingested alive but deteriorated within 2-3 days. Ciliates formed thin-walled division cysts on the coral and divided up to 3 times. Cysts formed around daughter cells within cysts. We provide some observations on the complex division pattern of the ciliate (i.e. tomont-trophont-cyst) and propose a possible complete pattern that requires further validation.

Spatiotemporal bioerosion patterns in deep-water scleractinians from off Santa Maria di Leuca (Apulia, Ionian Sea)

Abstract This study focuses on the carbonate biodegradation processes of deep-water scleractinians from off Apulia at Santa Maria di Leuca (SML) in the Ionian Sea, including living colonies of Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata and Desmophyllum dianthus. The corallites were grouped into three zones: the live zone, edge zone and dead zone. In total, 13 trace types were encountered and are attributed to borings of sponges (3), fungi (6), foraminifers (2), bacteria (1) and annelids (1). Their relative spatial appearance within the host skeletons led to the distinction between six succession stages of bioerosion. The first endobiontic traces are exclusively produced by bacteria and fungi and are already present in the edge zone, which could be attributed to their fast growth rates and/or temporal exposure of the bare skeleton to the water column. In D. dianthus the entire ichnospecies assemblage has been documented within the first 1.9 cm below the live zone and represents the most condensed bioerosion succession amongst the coral species studied. The strongest degradation of corallites at SML is made by boring sponges, which can excavate 70% or more of the skeleton. The finding of a unilateral condensed succession of bioerosion stages may be linked to prevailing unidirectional strong currents. A comparison of the present ichnocoenosis with bioerosion studies from the Eastern Atlantic evidences a reduced ichnodiversity in Ionian Sea bathyal corals.

Phototrophic microendoliths bloom during coral “white syndrome”

Following rapid lesion progression of white syndrome in tabular Acropora spp., the white bare skeleton gradually changes to green, a result of endolithic algae blooms (primarily Ostreobium spp.). Endolithic algal biomass and chlorophyll concentration were found to be an order of magnitude higher in the green zone compared with healthy appearing parts of each colony. Chl b to Chl a ratio increased from 1:1.6 in the healthy area to 1:2 and 1:3.5 in the white exposed skeleton and green zones, respectively. These observations together with pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry suggest photoacclimation of the endoliths in the green zone. Histopathological microscopy revealed that the endolithic algal filaments penetrate the coral tissue. This study highlights the interaction of endolithic algae with both the skeleton and host tissue. This may have a critical role in the processes that accompany the post-disease state in reef-building corals.

Tissue necrosis and mortality of the temperate coral Cladocora Caespitosa

Mass‐mortality events of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa were recorded in the Gulf of La Spezia (NW Mediterranean) in the summers of 1997, 1998 and 1999. At the end of the summer 1999, 60% of the colonies found in 1997 were damaged and more than 50% of the damaged colonies were completely dead. Complete death of the largest colonies caused a modal shift of colony size‐frequency distribution towards the smallest size classes. In order to verify experimentally the hypothesis that mass‐mortality was primarily induced by a seawater temperature increase of up to 4 °C for several weeks, as proposed by several Authors, nubbins of the coral were maintained in aquaria at a temperature of 28 °C, i.e., 4 °C higher than the normal maximum summer value. After three weeks of treatment, the nubbins showed a mortality pattern similar to that observed in the field, with the gradual necrosis of tissue to leave only the bare skeleton. Similarly, nubbins long‐term exposed to the summer temperature of 24 °C showed signs of stress. In situ tissue necrosis and loss, first from coenosarcs, then from polyps, started from different parts of the colonies simultaneously. In addition, C. caespitosa did not bleach during the thermal stress, which is different from the heat‐induced mass mortality events in tropical corals.

Observations of a new source of coral mortality along the Kenyan coast

In early 2002 coral mortality occurred along 600 km of coastline from Tanzania to Kenya. Astreopora, Echinopora, and Montipora species were severely affected, with Montipora being nearly eliminated from Kenyan reefs. Acropora, Platygyra, Goniopora, and massive Porites were also affected; however, Porites and Goniopora rarely died and often recovered, whereas death for most other species occurred within 2 weeks. In Echinopora and Montipora, a dull ashy tissue color and brittle skeletons characterized the early stages of this event with a mucus layer on the tissue surface in intermediate stages. Mucus and embedded debris then disappeared and surfaces were left covered in a white calcareous dust that sometimes capped a black layer. Astreopora tissues became dull and pale, and seldom produced mucus; eventually the skeleton became bare and white. Either a colorless translucent or brownish thin margin of tissue was visible between living tissue and bare skeleton, depending on species. Scanning electron micrographs of affected corals revealed the presence of fungi. Histology and staining showed that the fungi were mostly in the three genera that died from the syndrome and it may be that fungi invaded and killed corals weakened by another unidentified pathogen.

The Theatres of Molière. By Gerry McCarthy. London and New York: Routledge, 2002; pp. 238. $30.95 paper.

Gerry McCarthy’s intention in this book is to “re-examine Molière, the man of the theatre, in the context of his profession, his education and the views of behavior he might have held in common with his contemporaries” (xiv). At the center of this re-examination, McCarthy places Molière the actor, asserting that it was because he was an actor that he was able to “annex Corneille’s tragic scene to the popular stage of Sganarelle or Le Médecin volant” (61), that is, to develop a form of serious comedy that relied on the power of the actor to engage the audience. It was in the age of Molière that the French theatre began to turn toward the illusionistic stage, “asserting its potential to overwhelm the performer,” but Molière—though often involved in enormously spectacular court productions—remained faithful to the “experience of the actor, conceiving the means of imaginative life out of the bare skeleton of words and action which is the play” (4). In McCarthy’s view, Molière’s fidelity to actor and text must have arisen from his early experiences with popular theatre in Paris and his apprenticeship as a nomadic actor playing in assorted spaces before 1655.

Monitoring the coral disease, plague type II, on coral reefs in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

In July 1997, conspicuous white patches of necrotic tissue and bare skeleton began to appear on scleractinian corals in several bays around St. John, US Virgin Islands. Analysis of diseased coral tissue from five different species confirmed the presence of a Sphingomonas-like bacterium, the pathogen for plague type II. To date, 14 species of hard corals have been affected by plague type II around St. John. This disease was monitored at Haulover and Tektite Reefs at depths of 7-12 meters. The study site at Tektite Reef has > 50% cover by scleractinian corals with 90% of hard corals being composed of Montastraea annularis. Monthly surveys at Tektite Reef from December 1997 to May 2001 documented new incidence of disease (bare white patches of skeleton) every month with associated loss of living coral and 90.5% of all disease patches occurred on M. annularis. The frequency of disease within transects ranged from 3 to 58%, and the area of disease patches ranged from 0.25 to 9000 cm2. The average percent cover by the disease within 1 m2 ranged from 0.01% (+/- 0.04 SD) to 1.74% (+/- 9.08 SD). Photo-monitoring of 28 diseased corals of 9 species begun in September 1997 at Haulover Reef revealed no recovery of diseased portions with all necrotic tissue being overgrown rapidly by turf algae, usually within less than one month. Most coral colonies suffered partial mortality. Very limited recruitment (e.g., of Agaricia spp., Favia spp. and sponges) has been noted on the diseased areas. This coral disease has the potential to cause more loss of live coral on St. John reefs than any other stress to date because it targets the dominant reef building species, M. annularis.