{"id":123944,"date":"2020-08-04T14:32:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T00:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=123944"},"modified":"2020-08-04T15:22:24","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T01:22:24","slug":"aquarium-adds-non-native-coral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/04\/aquarium-adds-non-native-coral\/","title":{"rendered":"Waik\u012bk\u012b Aquarium adds non-native coral species to its collection"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_16366\"  width=\"676\" height=\"676\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AAB1ZFZHSS8?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Waikiki Aquarium adds non-native coral species to its collection\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Recently extracted non-native coral species from patch reefs in <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>\u2019s <span aria-label=\"Kaneohe\">K\u0101ne&#699;ohe<\/span> Bay were donated to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waikikiaquarium.org\/\">Waik\u012bk\u012b Aquarium<\/a> for bio-secure housing and display. The donation came from a team from the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources (<abbr title=\"Division of Aquatic Resources\">DAR<\/abbr>), with support from numerous partner organizations including the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.himb.hawaii.edu\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/a> (<abbr title=\"Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology\">HIMB<\/abbr>). <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_123959\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-123959\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"coral\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-123959\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-123959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Non-native coral species from patch reefs in <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>\u2019s <span aria-label=\"Kaneohe\">K\u0101ne&#699;ohe<\/span> Bay. (Photo courtesy of <abbr>DLNR<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;The Waik\u012bk\u012b Aquarium is grateful for this opportunity to work closely with <abbr title=\"Department of Land and Natural Resources\">DLNR<\/abbr>\/<abbr>DAR<\/abbr> and its partners to remove these non-native corals. They were clearly planted there deliberately several years ago, but do not belong on <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>&#8216;s reefs,&rdquo; said <strong>Andrew Rossiter<\/strong>, Waik\u012bk\u012b Aquarium director. &ldquo;The Waik\u012bk\u012b Aquarium will provide them the only home suitable for these and other non-native corals in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2014behind the glass of a public aquarium.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr>DAR<\/abbr> Aquatic Invasive Species (<abbr title=\"Aquatic Invasive Species\">AIS<\/abbr>) Program received the first report of a non-native coral on May 13, 2020, from <span aria-label=\"Hiilei\">Hi&#699;ilei<\/span> Kawelo, executive director of Paepae o <span aria-label=\"Heeia\">He&#699;eia<\/span>. Her father, Gabby Kawelo, first observed the unusual corals in 2018. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They didn\u2019t look like anything, anyone in my family has ever seen before, and we\u2019ve been diving regularly in the bay for generations,&rdquo; said <span aria-label=\"Hiilei\">Hi&#699;ilei<\/span>. &ldquo;My sister Kapua and I reached out to members of the scientific community and to natural resource managers. Pictures were circulated to experts familiar with Hawaiian corals, and none of them identified the species observed as native species.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our team is responsible for rapidly responding to new reports of non-native aquatic species and assessing next steps for management. Non-native species have the potential to become invasive and negatively impact our native ecosystems, the economy and human well-being,&rdquo;explained <abbr>AIS<\/abbr> team lead and aquatic biologist Kim Fuller. &ldquo;It is necessary to respond to non-native species reports in a timely manner before they have time to establish and spread.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_123946\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-123946\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral--300x169.jpg\" alt=\"coral extraction\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-123946\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral--300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral--130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/manoa-aquarium-coral-.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-123946\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Non-native coral extracted from patch reefs in <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>\u2019s <span aria-label=\"Kaneohe\">K\u0101ne&#699;ohe<\/span> Bay. (Photo courtesy of <abbr>DLNR<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fuller noted that 12 colonies appeared to be non-native and were comprised of three species. The colonies ranged from 7 inches to 4 feet in diameter and included a purple branching coral that was unlike any native branching corals observed in the main Hawaiian Islands. The footprint of the area with the non-native coral colonies was between 7 feet and 9.5 feet. <\/p>\n<p>Experts from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (<abbr title=\"National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\">NOAA<\/abbr>), <abbr title=\"United States\">U.S.<\/abbr> Fish and Wildlife Service, <abbr>HIMB and the <span aria-label=\"Heeia\">He&#699;eia<\/span> National Estuarine Research Reserve were consulted about species identification and removal of the corals. <\/abbr><\/p>\n<p>Samples were collected from each suspected species and submitted to <strong>Robert Toonen<\/strong>, a coral expert at <abbr>HIMB<\/abbr>, for genetic analysis. &ldquo;These corals look a lot like some that I know are popular in the aquarium trade and thorough analysis revealed that they definitely are not native,&rdquo; Toonen said. <\/p>\n<p>Samples also were sent to a <abbr>NOAA<\/abbr> lab for further identification. <abbr>NOAA<\/abbr>\u2019s Doug Fenner identified the orange foliose coral as <em>Montipora foliosa<\/em>, the purple branch coral as <em>Montipora digitata<\/em> and the green polyp coral as either <em>Montipora stellata<\/em> or <em>Monitipora carinita<\/em>. Bishop Museum also received samples for its collection. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dlnr.hawaii.gov\/blog\/2020\/07\/29\/nr20-109\/\">For more, see the <abbr>DLNR<\/abbr> website<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The colonies included a purple branching coral that was unlike any native branching corals observed in the main Hawaiian Islands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,12],"tags":[109,53,1363,9,56,302],"class_list":["post-123944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-video","tag-coral-reefs","tag-hawaii-institute-of-marine-biology","tag-manoa-research","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","tag-waikiki-aquarium","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123944"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124211,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123944\/revisions\/124211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}