White Band Disease

Photo by Johnny Holland

This is not a blog post about the day the music died or anything related to music, pop, rap or otherwise. White band disease isn't a human illness though it may be caused by us. White band disease is a killer nevertheless and has been killing reef building corals in the Caribbean since the 1970s, specifically staghorn and elkhorn corals. Both of these are now critically endangered. White band disease causes the outer layers of the coral to turn white and peel away. The culprits identified by some researchers from the UK are bacteria that’s source may be from human sewage dumping. The bacteria present in the diseased coral are vibrio charcharlae, lactobacillus suebicus, and one other as yet unidentified bacillus. The corals being affected are the key architects involved in beginning and continuing building of reef ecosystems and these reef systems require some positive human impact- not sewage-saving!