Antonius,-A.  Coral diseases in the Indo-Pacific: A first 
	record.  P.S.Z.N.I:-Mar.-Ecol. 1985. vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 
	197-218.

The so-called "band" diseases of reef corals, the White Band 
Disease (WBD) and the Black Band Disease (BBD), were observed 
in the Red Sea and in the Philippines. Since they were 
previously known only from the western Atlantic, this is the 
first record for the Indo-Pacific region. WBD is neither 
infectious nor contagious and the the pathogen is unknown. 
BBD is highly infectious and contagious and is caused by the 
cyanophyte Phormidium corallyticum . Susceptibility to WBD 
occurs throughout the order Scleractinia , but the effects of 
the disease are most severe among Acroporidae . 
Susceptibility to BBD seems to be restricted to Faviidae , 
with Platygyra  and Goniastrea  species the most heavily 
afflicted. WBD cannot be influenced by any parameter tested 
so far. BBD can be enhanced by light and by water 
eutrophication, and its advance can be stopped by 
antibiotics. An active WBD seems to be a precondition for the 
origin of BBD.