CORAL DIED EN MASSE AT YAMAGUCHI PERFECTURE JAPAN

A type of coral was found to have died en masse off the coast of the Jikamuro district of Suo-Oshima, an island in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and authorities under the jurisdiction of the environment ministry are set to carry out an on-site investigation in mid-November at the earliest, according to a report from Mainichi Shimbun.

Off the coast of Jikamuro in western Japan, there is about a 3,000-square-foot colony of coral called Alveopora japonica. The colony is believed to be the largest in scale in Japan, and in 2013, the area was designated the first marine park in Setonaikai National Park.

The on-site inspection of the coral colony will be carried out by the Ministry of the Environment's Hiroshima outpost of the Chugoku Shikoku office.

Masaaki Fujimoto, 66, a natural park educator of the environment ministry who has been observing the coral for at least a decade, found in late September that a portion of the coral had turned white and was beginning to die. By early October, about 70% of the colony, primarily within 6 to 10 meters from the surface of the water, had died. Apparently only the coral's skeletal frame, shaped like a honeycomb, remained.

Alveopora japonica spawn between August and October. Due to stress from spawning or after spawning, in some cases, coral can turn white, which prevents them from photosynthesizing, which then leads to death. However, Fujimoto explained, "This is the first time that so much of the coral have died in such a large area."

By late October, the spread of dying coral had abated, and larvae that had been spawned this season were found fixed to the bottom of the sea. Fujimoto, who plans to keep a close eye on the coral, said, "The massive die-off may have stopped, but it will take several years for the colony to return to the way it was."