Table 1.

‘The moving target hypothesis' is illustrated by the number of coral diseases for which pathogens have been established (E and bold type) and for which candidate pathogens (C) have been identified. Host is the coral species used for challenge experiments (E) or from which the pathogen was isolated (C). Location and date of each pathogen identification is noted. Diseases are listed in order of date of first pathogen isolation from the reef environment for that disease (bold type). When date of isolation is not included in study methods, date of publication is indicated (*). Unknown (ukn), cyanobacterium (cy), bacterium (ba), fungus (fu), ciliate (ci), virus (vi). For no. of E/C pathogens,+indicates multiple species for a genus (spp.).

disease	no. of E/C pathogens	E and C pathogen(s) and strain(s) or (accession no.)	type	host(s)	location(s)	date(s)
BBD	0/7+	polymicrobial consortium (cy, sulfide-oxidixing ba, sulfate-reducing ba)C	cy, ba	Colpophyllia natans Orbicella annularis Montipora capitata	Florida Hawaii	1995*[13] 2012 [14]
		sulfide-oxidizing ba
		Beggiatoa sp.C	ba	Pseudodiploria strigosa Diploria labyrintheformis Unk Caribbean coral M. capitata	Bermuda USVI Barbados Hawaii	1973 [4] 1999–2000 [15] 2012 [14]
		sulfate-reducing ba
		Desulfovibrio spp.C	ba	P. strigosa D. labyrintheformis Montastraea cavernosa O. annularis Faviid corals	Bermuda Barbados Curacao Israel	1973 [4] 2000 [15,16] 2005, 2006 [17]
		Desulfovibrio sp. strain TBP-1C	ba	Pseudodiploria clivosa Siderastrea siderea	Florida Dominica	2000 [18]
		cyanobacteria
		Phormidium corallyticumC	cy	ukn Caribbean coral	Belize Bermuda	1983* [5]
		Geitlerinema sp. (DQ151461)C (AKA Phormidium corallyticum [15])	cy	M. cavernosa C. natans P. strigosa S. siderea Porites lutea	Florida Bahamas Philippines	1991 [19,20] 2004, 2005 [20]
		Oscillatoria sp. (AF473936)C	cy	ukn Caribbean coral M. cavernosa O. annularis P. strigosa Pachyseris speciosa Porites sp. Montipora sp. M. capitata Faviid corals	USVI Barbados Curacao Palau Hawaii Israel	1999, 2000 [15] 2000, 2001 [21] 2004 [22] 2005, 2006 [17] 2012 [14]
		Leptolyngbya sp. strain PCC7375C	cy	O. annularis P. lutea S. siderea	Florida Philippines USVI	2004, 2005 [20]
		Pseudoscillatoria coralii strain BgP10_4SC	cy	Favia sp. M. capitata	Israel Hawaii	2009* [23] 2012 [14]
BBL	2/1	Vibrio shiloi strain AK-1E	ba	Oculina patagonica	Israel	1995 [11]
		Vibrio coralliilyticus strains YB1, YB2, YB3, YB4E strain EM1C	ba	Pocillopora damicornis O. patagonica	Zanzibar Israel Israel	1999 [12] 2001 [24] 2011, 2012 [25]
WP	1/2	Aurantimonas coralicida strain WP1E	ba	Dichocoenia stokesii	Florida	1995 [8]
		small circular single-stranded DNA viruses (SCSDVs)C	vi	O. annularis	USVI	2010 [26]
		Philaster lucindaC	ci	C. natans O. annularis	Venezuela Columbia	2015* [27]
aspergillosis	1/0	Aspergillus sydowii E	fu	Gorgonia ventalina	Bahamas	1996* [10,28]
WBD	0/5	Vibrio charchariaeC	ba	Acropora cervicornis	Bahamas Puerto Rico	1997 [29] 2004 [30] 2014* [31]
		Rickettsiales-like bacteriumC	ba	A. cervicornis	Florida	2011 [32]
		Lactobacillus suebicusC	ba	A. cervicornis	not reported	2014*[31]
		Bacillus sp.C	ba	A. cervicornis	not reported	2014*[31]
		P. lucindaC	ci	A. cervicornis	Venezuela Columbia	2014*[31] 2015*[27]
WPX/acroporid serratiosis	1/0	S. marcescens strain PDL00E, strain PDR60E	ba	A. palmata	Florida	1999 [9] 2003 [33] 2011–2013 [34]
WS	9/12+	Vibrio sp.E	ba	Montipora aequituberculata	Australia	2003 [35]
		Vibrio sp.E	ba	Acropora cytherea	Marshall Islands	2004 [35]
		three Vibrio spp.E	ba	Pachyseris speciosa	Palau	2005 [35]
		Thalassomonos loyonaC strain CBMAI 722T	ba	Favia favus	Israel	2005*[36]
		Vibrio harveyiC	ba	Acropora sp.	Indonesia	2010* [37]
		Porpostoma guamense C	ci	Acropora muricata	Australia	2012* [38]
		Philaster sp.C	ci	A. muricata	Australia	2012* [38]
		Arcobacter sp.C	ba	A. muricata	Australia	2012* [38]
		Aeromonas sp.C	ba	A. muricata	Australia	2012* [38]
		Vibrio spp.C	ba	A. muricata	Fiji	2015*[39]
		Reinekea spp.C	ba	A. muricata	Fiji	2015*[39]
		Verrucomicrobiaceae spp.C	ba	A. muricata	Fiji	2015*[39]
		P. lucinda C	ci	A. muricata Acropora aspera P. damicornis	Fiji Australia Solomon Islands Maldives	2015*[27,39]
Porites ulcerative white spot disease (WS)		Vibrio sp.E	ba	Porites cylindrica	Philippines	2005–2009 [40]
Porites WS		virus-like particlesC	vi	Porites compressa	Hawaii	2010 [41]
		Vibrio alginolyticus strain XSBZ03E, strain XSBZ14E	ba	Porites andrewsi	South China Sea	2013* [42]
		Shimia marina NR043300.1C Vibrio hepatarius NR025575.1C	ba ba	Porites lutea P. lutea	Mayotte Reunion South Africa	2013* [43]
		Vibrio tubiashi strain P180RE	ba	P. lutea	Mayotte Reunion	2015* [44]
		P. lucindaC	ci	P. lutea	Mayotte Reunion South Africa	2015* [27]
Montipora WS (chronic)		Vibrio owensii strain OCN002E	ba	M. capitata	Hawaii	2012* [45]
Montipora WS (acute)		V. coralliilyticus strain OCN008E	ba	M. capitata	Hawaii	2013* [46]
BrB	0/4	P. guamenseC	ci	Acropora surculosa A. muricata Acropora hyacinthus	Guam Australia	2005 [47] 2008* [48] 2012 [49] 2015* [27]
		Philaster sp.C	ci	A. muricata	Australia	2012* [38]
		Arcobacter sp.C	ba	A. muricata	Australia	2012* [38]
		Aeromonas sp.C P. lucindaC	ba ci	A. muricata A. muricata	Australia Australia	2012* [38] 2015* [27]
CYBD	0/4	four Vibrio spp.C	ba	Orbicella faveolata	Indonesia	2008* [50]
Porites (white patch) bleaching	0/1	virus-like particlesC	vi	Porites australiensis	Australia	2010 [51]
dark spot syndrome	0/1	Rhytisma acerinumC	fu	Stephanocoenia intersepta	Venezuela	2013 [52]