Fungi in Porites lutea: association with healthy and diseased corals

Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

Chandralata Raghukumar¹  J. Ravindran¹  Seshagiri Raghukumar¹ 

关键词: Scleractinian coral;    Porites lutea;    Bleaching;    Pink-line syndrome;    Fungi;    Immunofluorescence probe;    Lakshadweep Islands;    Arabian sea;    India;   

DOI  :  10.3354/dao047219

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Healthy and diseased scleractinian corals have been reported to harbour fungi. However, the species of fungi occurring in them and their prevalence in terms of biomass have not been determined and their role in coral diseases is notclear. We have found fungi to occur regularly in healthy, partially dead, bleached and pink-line syndrome (PLS)-affected scleractinian coral, Porites lutea, in the reefs of Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea. Mostly terrestrial species of fungiwere isolated in culture from these corals. Hyaline and dark, non-sporulating fungi were the most dominant forms. Fungal hyphae extended up to 3 cm within the corals. Immunofluorescence detection using polyclonal immunological probes for a dark,initially non-sporulating isolate (isolate # 98-N28) and for a hyaline, non-sporulating fungus (isolate # 98-N18) revealed high frequencies of these in PLS-affected, dead and healthy colonies of P. lutea. Total fungal biomass accounted for 0.04 to0.05% of the weight of corals in bleached corals and was higher than in PLS-affected and healthy colonies. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of fungi within the carbonate skeleton and around polyps. Fungi appear to be a regular componentof healthy, partially dead and diseased coral skeleton.

【 授权许可】

Unknown