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Coral
Disease Identification and Information Main | Asperillus Galls | Pathogen |Species Affected Disease Overview Aspergillosis is a lesion producing fungal infection of Caribbean soft corals. It affects 6 species of sea fans and sea whips and is widespread throughout the Caribbean. The pathogen is Aspergillosis sydowii, a terrestrial fungus (Geiser et al., 1996), which infects gorgonia after germination of spores on the coral surface. This is followed by penetration and spread of hyphae in coral tissue, resulting in highly visible lesions. Lesions may be associated with complete loss of tissue and skeleton, and often occur at multiple sites across an infected colony. Purple galls may be produced by the coral host to encapsulate fungal hyphae. If such galls are present, fungal hyphae are visible if the gall is cut open. One known reservoir is African dust. See (Alker et al., 2001; Geiser et al., 1998; Kim and Harvell, 2002; Kim et al., 2000; Nagelkerken et al., 1997a,b; Smith et al., 1996, 1998.)
Infected
colony of Gorgonia ventalina Aspergillosis is caused by the terrestrial fungus Aspergillus sydowi. The disease results in lesions associated with degraded gorgonian tissue. Gorgonia counteract the disease by encapsulating fungal hyphae in purple pigmented galls. |
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