Kim B. Ritchie, J. H. Dennis, Tom McGrath and Garriet W. Smith.  1993.  
Bacteria Assiciated with Bleached and Nonbleached areas of Monastrea 
annularis.  Poc. 5th Symp. Nat. Hist. Bahamas, 75-80.

Reports of bleaching in corals and other organisms have been increasing 
in frequency over the past several years.  These reports have stimulated 
a great deal of interest in the cause of this phenomenon, but little 
experimental work has been performed.  This study began a systematic 
survey of bacteria associated with the surface of bleached and 
nonbleached areas of the scleractinian coral Monastrea annularis.  In 
February 1993, a M.annularis was located in French Bay (San Salvador, 
Bahamas) which showed areas of bleaching.  Syringe samples were taken 
from bleached and nonbleached areas, including surface mucus layers and 
polyp tissue.  Samples were transferred to vials, kept on ice, and 
plated out on a nonselective medium.  Individual bacterial isolates were 
then restreaked, checked for purity and inoculated onto microplates 
containing 95 different potential carbon sources and a water control 
(BIOLOG PLATES TM).  The oxidation of the carbon sources produced a 
pattern characteristic of each isolate.  These patterns were entered 
into a data base from which comparisons of isolates from bleached and 
healthy areas were made.  Isolate patterns were entered into a cluster 
corresponding to Vibrio/Aromonas while none of the isolates from healthy 
areas fell into this cluster.  This approach may allow the determination 
of pathogens involved in the cause or development of bleaching events.