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Be
a Sea Fan
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Web Dive 1
Sand Key - Page 5
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| From the pillar coral we
head eastward toward buoy #10, to our oldest photo monitoring
site that was established on July 29, 1993. It has been
almost eight years since we began monitoring these corals
and by comparing images taken in 1993 to images we take
today, dramatic changes are evident. |
Sand Key, July 29, 1993 image 2
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| The most noticeable change
is that the large sea fan has almost disappeared, only
it's skeleton remains. The Siderastrea siderea,
subject 1 (SKB10ZS1), in the middle of the picture,
appears to be holding it's own. A new sea fan has begun
to grow on top of subject one. Unfortunately, it looks
like it has an Aspergillus infection. |
Sand Key, June 18, 2001 image 29
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Another big change is the loss of the living coral on Subject
2 Diploria stigosa. In 1993 there is a small area
of coral loss and by 2001 there is very little living coral
remaining. This is an important observation because it illustrates
that the fine black line around an area of coral loss, as
seen in 1993, was actively killing coral. This thin black
line is present on many corals and has not been considered
as an active disease.
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SKB10ZS2 July 29, 1993 image 4 |
SKB10ZS2 June 18, 2001 image 30 |
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Web Dive 1 - Sand Key
Page: 1
| 2 | 3
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| 5
| 6
| 7 | 8
| 9
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Web Dive 2 - Rock Key
Page: 1
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3 | 4 | 5
| 6 | 7
| 8 | 9
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