022

Coral Line by: Bork family

Message: "Happy Reef to you! Good luck growing!"

Coral Type: bushy
Coral species: Pocillopora damicornis

Note: This coral has shown an exponential growth rate (where the rate of growth increases with time) and it will be interesting to see if this is the same for other species. With this spherical growth form, one of the issues in our methods is highlighted- Our measurements only show linear colony diameter, where in cases like this, it would be more accurate to measure a 3D volume increase over time, or weight.

Normally found in shallow rocky habitats, this line has showed an incredible survival rate! The corals are certainly ready for transplantation, however in November we are expecting a strong El Nino event here in Maldives. This will cause a rise in sea surface temperature and can severely stress the corals. We believe they have a better chance of survival remaining in the nursery than on the shallower reef. For this reason, we will postpone transplantation until December time. We are excited to get them on the reef, but ultimately their survival during this concerning time is key.
2 yr update: The El Nino event did occur, however it came later than originally predicted, and occurred in April 2016. We left the line in during this time, and we are please to have made the right management choice. The line was impacted somewhat, where partial mortality seems to have occurred for some of the colonies. All colonies are still mostly alive though, and we look forward to their new transplant date of March. Apologies our graphs have not updated, we are working on this. Don't hesitate to email us with any questions at deborah.burn@gili-lankanfushi.com