In a spot

 
Published: Thursday 31 October 2002

Struck by the white syndrome<s (Credit: AIMS)A new enemy may be threatening Australia's Great Barrier Reef. A condition scientists are calling white syndrome was found on 33 of 48 reefs surveyed in the national marine park, said Australian Institute of Marine Science ecologist Cathie Page. The syndrome, which leaves white marks where it has killed living tissue, has increased substantially in the past year. Even as experts feel that it would be premature to term the syndrome potentially devastating, coral mortality due to the disease is apparent and its prevalence has increased.

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