In this Daily: A Coral Population Explosion at Las Catalinas
I have been snorkeling around Las Catalinas since 2006. There has always been lots of life, lots of interesting fish. But until the last 5 years or so, there was no live coral, at least not things that were obviously live coral to me.
There was lots of dead coral. In many places the bottom is completely covered with it. It generally looks something like this:
That all started to change about 5 years ago. I may be off a bit on the timing, so take these dates as approximate. In any case, the re-emergence of live coral started slowly with a single species, but has since accelerated and now is moving very rapidly with at least several species.
I will attempt to document all the species I have noticed. In places many are growing in proximity to each other, creating quite a riot of color.
What caused the coral from years gone by to die? I don’t know. Why is it coming back? I don’t know that either, but it is extremely exciting!!
Species 1 - Massive, Mushroom Shaped
The first species to show up is a smooth, massive one. It tends to form the shape of a mushroom. Some can be up to 4 or 5 feet across. This is easy to find just past the first ridge of rocks as you swim north from Danta. It also exists out along Punta Penca.
Here is what it looks like when it is just getting started:
Here is a bigger one…
And here is the biggest specimen I’ve seen of this species, just west of Playa Dantita. This one is about 5 feet across!
Species 2 - Branching, Round, Spiky Coral
This species started showing up 2 or 3 years ago. It is typically quite round in shape, and up to about 8 inches in diameter. It’s branches are relatively stout, and often rounded and white at the tips.
Here is a very typical specimen:
Here is a closer look:
Species 3 - Similar to 2, but More Delicate and Irregular in Shape
This species began showing up about 2 years ago. Truly a different species than #2? I’m not sure, but I think so. This one I see as with more delicate and longer branches, and more irregular in shape, and not so like to be rounded and white on the ends.
Species 4 - Grey Encrusting Coral
I’m not quite sure how long this species has been around - maybe always. Anyway, it is quite common on rocks in shallow water in between Danta and Dantita. My photos do not do it justice. It forms an irregular lattice pattern with ridges maybe ¼ of an inch high.
Species 5 - Smooth Popcorn Coral
This species has only shown up very recently, but is growing very rapidly, mainly out in shallow water close to shore west of Dantita. It consists of irregular nodules, yellow white in color. It can end up forming very irregular shapes. I wonder if this species may be the basis of much of the dead, lattice type coral that we have?
Species 6 - Red Coral
This species is quite new in our area, I think. It appears as an encrusting coral on rocks, often in crevices, like this:
It also can form bumpier, branchier shapes. Like this:
Species 7 - Yellow Coral
This species grows mainly on patches of old dead branching coral. It showed up about a year ago. It is spreading very rapidly, so much so that it is hard to find examples of the old dead coral where it is NOT growing! It is hard and totally irregular.
Keeping an Eye Out
I'll definitely be out and around keeping an eye on these corals, and it'll be very interesting to see how they continue to come back.