Figure 1.

Characteristic field appearance of a white syndrome (WS) on a colony of the coral Acropora hyacinthus from reefs near Lizard Island (14°40′S, 145°27′E) in the Northern sector of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR): (A) WS lesion on a coral colony with numbers and arrows displaying (1) dead coral skeleton overgrown with algae, (2) recently exposed coral skeleton prior to algal overgrowth, (3) actively progressing lesion boundary where samples derived for this study were taken, (4) healthy tissue ahead of the lesion and from which samples were also derived. (B) Close up image of lesion boundary displaying diffuse, acute to sub-acute areas of tissue loss revealing white, intact skeleton.