– Photographs of the Fringing Reef in the Recreational Zone of the Folkestone Marine Reserve, Barbados 2015-2016
Page on versicolor.ca with links to 3 photo albums:
– Fringing Reef of the Barbados MPA Recreational Zone.
The Vauxhall fringing reef supports a diversity of fishes and corals and high coral cover in the outer zones, in contrast to fringing reefs elsewhere in Barbados’ Folkestone Marine Reserve.
– Acropora prolifera (fused staghorn coral) in Barbados’ MPA 2015
Photos document a cluster of colonies of this hybrid between elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) and staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) at the junction between the Zooanthid and Reef Crest zones of the Vauxhall fringing reef in the Recreational Zone of Barbados’ Folkestone Marine Reserve. It is an ecouraging development. For more perspective, see a recent (2016) report on Acroporoids in Barbados
– Squarrose Fire Coral Communities in Barbados
There’s a lot going on inside the boxes created by the Squarrose Fire Coral.
Related:
Damselfish are very active in these “boxes” and may benefit the associated corals. See:
Positive interactions between corals and damselfish increase coral resistance to temperature stress
AA Shantz et al., 2023. In Global Change Biology. ” When exposed to thermal stress, corals with fish performed as well as control corals maintained at ambient temperatures without fish. In contrast, corals exposed to thermal stress without fish experienced photophysiological impairment, a more than 50% decline in endosymbiont density, and a 36% decrease in tissue protein content…”