Pathological drivers of coral diseases across the Arabian Peninsula, 2015 to 2018
Increasing trends of coral mortality is a challenge to coral reef management worldwide, and a need exists to identify the causes and pathways involved. Pathology is useful to help decipher potential causes of mortality in animals, because it illuminates agents associated with lesions and gives insights on the nature of how a host responds to said agents. To better understand the nature of threats facing corals in the Arabian Peninsula, we performed gross and microscopic pathology on corals from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. Among 321 coral fragments examined from 21 genera, tissue loss was the most common lesion seen in 31% of samples, reflecting its widespread presence on reefs from the Arabian Peninsula. Histologically, 68% of lesions exhibited necrosis, predominantly in the basal body wall and surface body wall. Endolithic filamentous microalgae and sponges, originating from the skeleton, were associated with 57% and 39% of lesions respectively, and were often linked to necrosis and hyaline membrane formation. Cell-associated microbial aggregates and coccidia were detected mainly in Acropora, Pocillopora, and Porites but were not associated with adverse host response. Notably, 69-100% of fragments showing lesions were female likely reflecting temporal reproductive life history of corals in the region. Our findings highlight endolithic organisms as major contributors to coral tissue degradation in the Arabian Peninsula.
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Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | public |
| bureauCode |
[ "010:12" ] |
| contactPoint |
{ "fn": "Thierry M. Work", "@type": "vcard:Contact", "hasEmail": "mailto:thierry_work@usgs.gov" } |
| description | Increasing trends of coral mortality is a challenge to coral reef management worldwide, and a need exists to identify the causes and pathways involved. Pathology is useful to help decipher potential causes of mortality in animals, because it illuminates agents associated with lesions and gives insights on the nature of how a host responds to said agents. To better understand the nature of threats facing corals in the Arabian Peninsula, we performed gross and microscopic pathology on corals from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. Among 321 coral fragments examined from 21 genera, tissue loss was the most common lesion seen in 31% of samples, reflecting its widespread presence on reefs from the Arabian Peninsula. Histologically, 68% of lesions exhibited necrosis, predominantly in the basal body wall and surface body wall. Endolithic filamentous microalgae and sponges, originating from the skeleton, were associated with 57% and 39% of lesions respectively, and were often linked to necrosis and hyaline membrane formation. Cell-associated microbial aggregates and coccidia were detected mainly in Acropora, Pocillopora, and Porites but were not associated with adverse host response. Notably, 69-100% of fragments showing lesions were female likely reflecting temporal reproductive life history of corals in the region. Our findings highlight endolithic organisms as major contributors to coral tissue degradation in the Arabian Peninsula. |
| distribution |
[ { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Digital Data", "format": "XML", "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/P14KHGVH", "mediaType": "application/http", "description": "Landing page for access to the data" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Original Metadata", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "text/xml", "description": "The metadata original format", "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.68bfa7b7d4be023bd944000b.xml" } ] |
| identifier | http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_68bfa7b7d4be023bd944000b |
| keyword |
[ "Arabian Gulf", "Gulf of Oman", "Persian Gulf", "Red Sea", "USGS:68bfa7b7d4be023bd944000b", "bacteria", "coccidia", "endoliths", "farming", "host response", "microalgae", "pathology", "sponges" ] |
| modified | 2025-12-10T00:00:00Z |
| publisher |
{ "name": "U.S. Geological Survey", "@type": "org:Organization" } |
| spatial | 32.3438, 12.0393, 61.1719, 30.6001 |
| theme |
[ "geospatial" ] |
| title | Pathological drivers of coral diseases across the Arabian Peninsula, 2015 to 2018 |
