The warning was issued on Wednesday, 2014-Aug-13 as a result of high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) recorded at the ICON Reef station in Little Cayman (LCIY2) just offshore from the Central Caribbean Marine Institute.
PALE BUT NOT BLEACHED: Researchers today documented individual colonies with yellow and pale yellow colorations along the inner shelf of Grape Tree Bay (<3m depth) near the CREWS buoy. Early indicator species are the Orbicella (formerly Montastraea) faveolata, O. annularis, and the agariciids. A single colony of Pseudodiploria (formerly Diploria) strigosa with pale coloration was observed adjacent to a colony with normal coloration (see picture). Although individual corals were pale, neither mass bleaching nor whole colony bleaching (i.e. white tissue) were observed.
DARK SPOTS: Individual Siderastrea siderea colonies were mottled or beginning to show signs of dark spots.
It is estimated that 5-10% of the above mentioned species were discolored. All other species observed appeared normal in color. Dive computer temperatures indicated 86°F at Grape Tree Bay.
