Distribution And Prevalence Of Coral Diseases In Some Locations Along The Red Sea Coast,egypt :

Amin Roshdy Mohamed Ismail

Coral reefs are one of the world’s most spectacular ecosystems on the earth. They form reservoirs of the highest marine biological diversity. They also provide one of the major sources of animal protein on which many coastal countries depend. They are important for coastal protection as they have a critical role in defending coastlines from wave action and storms. Coral reefs provide economic and environmental services to millions of people by providing sources of food, and pharmaceuticals; and creating employment, recreational, and tourism opportunities.Coral reefs ecosystem in the Red Sea is legendary. They are comprised of more than 250 species of hard corals representing the highest diversity in the Indian Ocean. The coasts of the northern Red Sea are fringed by an almost continuous band of coral reefs, which physically protect the shorelines.Unfortunately, coral reefs are among the most heavily degraded marine ecosystems. Over the last two decades, coral reef communities have been experiencing increasingly stressful conditions due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic detrimental factors. One of the essential issues of coral reefs conservation is to determine the major factors contributing to the declining of the reefs. Among these factors, coral diseases have been largely neglected.In corals, as in other animals, lesions caused by diseases are manifested morphologicallyexposure of coral skeleton. These macroscopic disease signs became the basis for coral diseases nomenclature and diagnosis.The present study aims to assess the coral diseases/ syndromes types, frequencies of occurrence, and prevalence as indicator of reef health status in some locations along the northern Red Sea coast of Egypt, and to study the species- disease associations in order to determine themost susceptible coral species for each disease.Data were collected from nine different locations along the northern Red Sea coas.t of Egypt. (Location I) El-Ain Al-Sukhna, (Location II)Ras Za’farana, (Location III) Hurghada, Locations IV, V and VI in Ras Mohammed Marine Protected Area (WA); (Location IV) Ras Ghozlan