Article on West Atlantic SPS

[coralite]

Hey Guys,
I wrote up this article on West Atlantic SPS Corals which features many species that we dont normally see in the trade. Furthermore, I did all the photography so the corals are framed the same way we would take pictures of aquarium corals. Hope you like the expose of our native corals. Here are some images which are featured in the article.

[Brewen]

WOW great article.

[GreshamH]

Excellent article Jake

[King-Kong]

John Pennekamp state park in Key Largo has a nice exhibit setup showing off a nice lagoon filled with Acropora cervicornis.

But, ofcourse, you shouldnt go to Pennekamp only to see their musuem! Go diving with them and get taken to some of the best protected reefs in the United States!

[SecretAgentMan]

Very nicely done, that second picture is marvelous

[SecretAgentMan]

Sorry. double post

-SAM

[trueblackpercula]

Yes great work ann the Picture of the elk horn does it no justic. When i go diving in puntas PR they are massive

Michael

[coralite]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. The following image shows an A. palmata which is about the size of a tree, living in the fore reef all by its lonesome.

[trueblackpercula]

If you do not mind were did you take that Picture? I know a place were there are dozens growing just like that and most people do not even know were they are
I have seen them grow over the past 30 years and they sure are huge. They were huge before I noticed them and they are even bigger now. I would say that most of them are the size of a VW bug and bigger. I will see if i can find some very old pics and post.

Michael

[coralite]

The huge palmata I just posted is growing South of Parguera PR, on the outer reef of Media Luna, where NOAA has the IKON tower. There are also extensive palmata dominated reefs at Steps Beach in Rincon and also at Porto Guiallardo west of Cabo Rojo. I am sure there are many more but those are the ones that I know of.

[gasman059]

Originally posted by coralite
The huge palmata I just posted is growing South of Parguera PR, on the outer reef of Media Luna, where NOAA has the IKON tower. There are also extensive palmata dominated reefs at Steps Beach in Rincon and also at Porto Guiallardo west of Cabo Rojo. I am sure there are many more but those are the ones that I know of.

Grew up fishing and diving in La Parguera and Magueyes -the station for marine biology was in its infancy when I lived donw in the island.

Spent most of my childhood diving and fishing the area and they are truly a site to see.

There's tons of preservation efforts in La parguera as we speak..

A short swim behind "caracoles" get so see tons of elks about 2 miles from that isalnd is Media luna. And like that there's plenty out in the area. Truly one of the must beautiful places on earth.

Plus the bioluminesce bay is also a site to see.


Great JOB

[Project Reef]

Jake, Excellent work man!! More Mycetophyllia pics please...

[johnnybravo234]

good luck getting your hands on the a. palmata.. it will likely be extinct within a decade or so

[coralite]

Originally posted by johnnybravo234
good luck getting your hands on the a. palmata.. it will likely be extinct within a decade or so

I would like to note that this article is in no way an encouragement for anyone to illegally harvest, keep or grow any kind of Atlantic stony corals. The acroporids specifically are protected as endangered species and violations of the endangered species act qualify as a federal offense.

Additionally, it is unlikely that Acropora palmata will go extinct in such a short time. It is true that it is already locally extinct in many parts of the Caribbean and rapidly declining throughout much of its range however, some of the sprawling palmata dominated reefs of puerto rico are only 10-15 yrs old. Since colonies can live for hundreds of years, I doubt many of these palmata zones will be extinguished with such rapidity.

[em805]

Wouldn't introducing Acropora palmata to the hobby be beneficial in the long run to keep the species alive? I'm not talking about aggressive harvesting just a few legally obtained peices to seed the hobby and spread it from those over time to the rest of the community. I just thought the whole purpose of fragging was to keep species thriving without depleting the oceans...

[GreshamH]

Palmata has a horriable track record for living in aquaria from what I hear.

[trueblackpercula]

Thats the spot the steps A well kept secret and i have been going there since I have been 10 years old hunting for lobsters. No it is no longer allowed and thats a good thing. It was just a few years ago when a builder wanted to put condos there and kill theem off. That was stoped and protest ed and now its a wild life reserve. As you can see from the photo I know were the steps are my grandparents live down the block and I go to the steps every year.

Michael

[trueblackpercula]

Leave the palmata alone....It will die in home aquar and should not be harvested unless you have a minimum of 10000 gallon tank. There is a couple of on line vendors that do sell it but it will die do not waste yuor time or money.

Michael

[coralite]

To give you some perspective of how specialized palmata is, the only places you find palmata growing a plenty are places where other corals dont or cant grow. They occur in areas of very high surge which is often so strong as to be unpleasant to dive or snorkel in.
Literally, the only time cervicornis and palmata grow together is when a colony of staghorn is sheltered by a colony of elkhorn. So until we figure out a way to produce so much flow in an aquarium that stahorns cant grow, then we might be able to grow palmata. Furthermore, at typical aquarium sizes palmata is an ugly coral. it is just brown and its true beauty is only apparent when the colony reaches 5-6 feet across at which point it has developed its unique shape

[trueblackpercula]

Amen

[Gary Majchrzak]

nice work, Jake

[trueblackpercula]

coralite
thouse are the steps you are talking about correct?
Michael

[coralite]

You know it boy, looks like we were standing in the same place when we took out pictures, palm tree and all. Except I have a better view of Desecheo. For the uninitiated, the water drops off 4-5 feet right at the water line and the palmata reef is right there.

[trueblackpercula]

HAaaaaaaaaa that funny but here is a one in a millon shot. I storm was just starting to come in when i snaped this picture. look at the top of the clouds nice and blue and the bottom half are the clouds rolling in all while the sun was gettting read to set. As for the desecho iland I have been there as well one time and I will never forget it. I even brought back a green looking rock from there that i use a paper weight.

Michael

[justinzimm]

Wow! Small world...

I've spent the last couple years at "steps" beach for the annual A. palmata spawn with project SECORE. The house we stay at is within walking distance of the site, just south past the nature preserve. Check out www.secore.org for more info. on the project. I've also dove Mona Island, La Parguera and other Rincon sites. Last year I was impressed with the condition of the coral, allot of new growth.

Two years back project SECORE was able to tank raise thousands of individual acropora palmata colonies from eggs and sperm... and they did it all in relatively small aquariums. Mitch Carl from Hennry Doorly Zoo was so successfull he sent hundreds of these colonies to other aquariums all over the US and Europe.

So, it is possible, but very difficult to keep palmata in an aquarium. The colonies I've kept grow very slowly and can bleach for seemingly no reason. All while the the colonies on either side look fine. No rhyme or reason.



Justin