Deeper, Larger, More Common: Cryptic Coral Species Podabacia Benefits from Reef Recovery| Annual....

In West Sumatra, Indonesia, a 20,000-hectare protected area (MPA Pulau Pieh) was established in 2000, and the partial reef recovery is extensively documented. Podabacia kunzmanni, a new cryptic mushroom coral species, was discovered while monitoring degraded reefs. It is not frequent, occurring only on rare occasions, and most specimens are small. The authors discovered multiple species during recent visits in 2018 and 2019, primarily at three locations within the MPA Pulau Pieh, primarily at Pulau Pandan. The majority of the individuals were discovered at higher depths, down to 18 m, with diameters of up to 20 cm. Three new records for this species can be created in terms of size, depth dispersion, and abundance. There are two possible causes for their predominance in dead reefs: they are either better survivors or better colonists of dead coral substrata. The team is now gathering more information about the distribution and the causes of the abrupt increase in visibility.

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