Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 22:58:30 -0400
From: Ernesto Weil <eweil@caribe.net>
Subject: Info from PUERTO RICO

As of today, bleaching in the southwest coast of Puerto Rico has been 
minor and scattered over the reefs. In shallow (0-18 m), near-shore, 
patch reefs and fringing reefs, the hydrocorals Millepora complanata, 
M.alcicornis and M.squarrosa, the zoanthid Palythoa caribbaeorum and 
the gorgonians Briaerum asbestinum (both the erect and crustose forms), 
and some Pseudoplexauras, have few colonies that are only pale and 
others completely bleached. Scleractinian corals that have started to 
bleach include P.astreoides and P.porites, agaricids like U.agaricites, 
U. purpurea, A.lamarcky and L.cucullata, Acropora palmata and A.
cervicornis, Diploria labyrnthyformis, Colpophyllia natans, Stephanocoenia 
intersepta and Mycetophyllia ferox. Curiously, colonies of the same species 
growing one beside the other show one completely bleached and the other 
with normal coloration and no signs of stress. None of the Montastraea 
species have started to bleach so far and maximum water temperatures 
are still under 31 Celsius throughout the area. 

Dr. Ernesto Weil
Department of Marine Sciences
University of Puerto Rico
PO BOX 908, Lajas, PR 00667