title: Species-diverse coral communities on an artificial substrate at a tuna farm in Amami, Japan.
abstract: Tuna-farming is expanding worldwide, necessitating the monitoring/managing of its effects on the natural environment. In Japan, tuna-farming is conducted on coral reefs that have been damaged by mass-bleaching events and crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks. This study focused on the coral community on an artificial substrate of tuna-farm to reveal the possible effects of tuna-farming on the natural environment. Corals flourished on ropes suspended in the farm in the Amami Islands, southern Japan. These were moored 3 m below the sea-surface in 50-m-deep water. The coral community on the rope was analyzed and compared with those on natural substrata on two adjacent COTS-damaged reefs and with that in a protected reef. Corals were monitored throughout a year. Sixty coral species grew on the ropes, that corresponds to 27.3% of the 220 species known from Amami. The coral community was unique, dominated by massive faviid corals. On the ropes, the water temperature rarely exceeded 30.0 °C and no corals on the rope were severely bleached or covered by sedimentation during the observations. The tuna-farm infrastructure provided corals with a suitable habitat, and species-rich coral communities were established. These coral communities are an important node connecting tuna-farms and the natural environment.
authors: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, 2-5 Bunkyo, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8577, Japan. hata@sci.ehime-u.ac.jp
authors: Hiroki
authors: H
authors: Hata
authors: Isao
authors: I
authors: Hirabayashi
authors: Hideki
authors: H
authors: Hamaoka
authors: Yoshio
authors: Y
authors: Mukai
authors: Koji
authors: K
authors: Omori
authors: Hironobu
authors: H
authors: Fukami
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000145:classification; D044822:Biodiversity; D057894:Coral Reefs; D005398:Fisheries; D007564:Japan; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014413:Tuna