Abstract

In response to coral reef decline, many coral aquaculture methods have been engineered to help restore the reefs to optimal conditions. Low-tech Acropora cervicornis aquacultures have been surprisingly successful in Culebra, Puerto Rico with colonies growing up to 4 cm in a month. This success is being threatened by increasing populations of corallivores, colonizing and damaging A. cervicornis tissue. To access abundance and size frequency we removed each corallivore found on the colonies and measured them. Abundance was 120.2 ind/sec (individuals per section of colonies) and size frequency ranged from 5.8 mm to 21.9 mm. These preliminary results will contribute to the ongoing investigation to control the corallivore infestation and protect A. cervicornis colonies.