Abstract

After experiencing the coronavirus pandemic, we all learned how a disease can spread and completely change our daily life. At the same time, awareness was raised worldwide to prioritize our health and safety. However, human beings are not the only ones exposed to diseases, they can also affect animals and in a matter of years can devastate entire populations. As coral reefs around the world suffer from the worsening effects of climate change, corals in the Bahamas face yet another threat. Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a new disease that is quickly infecting and killing stony corals, this highly contagious disease affects over 20 different coral species throughout The Bahamas and Caribbean and 4 endangered species including the critically endangered pillar coral (Precht et al. 2019). SCTLD is highly lethal and progresses rapidly, spreading through basic water circulation. While the exact cause of the disease is still unknown, researchers believe it to be caused by bacteria that can be easily transmitted through the water column (Aeby et al. 2019) . The disease was first reported in Miami in 2014 (Precht et al. 2019) and it is presumed that commercial ships coming from Florida introduced SCTLD to Bahamian waters.

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