"Here's an update to Dr. Wellington's report from December. On a recent trip to the Galapagos archipelago, Andrew Baker and I observed extensive coral bleaching. One benefit was that it was extremely easy to see scattered colonies on the dark basalt backgrounds, making swimming surveys as comprehensive as I have ever experienced. Nearly all corals were bleached to some extent. The most strongly affected species was Porites lobata followed by Pavona clavus, Pavona gigantea and Pavona varians. Other affected species included Psammocora stellata, Diaseris distorta and Cycloseris curvata. Interestingly, the genus most impacted during the 1982-83 ENSO, Pocillopora, seems to be faring quite well. Many Pocillopora colonies exhibited normal pigmentation, while others showed variable amounts of pigmentation loss. In other genera, many colonies exhibited pigment loss on their tops with some pigmented tissues still present along their flanks and in shaded portions. Psammocora exhibited a Range of pigment loss, and was one of the few genera to show distinctive paling. Some Diaseris individuals (at 15m depth) were completely bleached, but many still had pigment remnants in tissues between septae. Most Cycloseris individuals had relatively normal looking tissues on their flanks. Bleached corals were observed in water depths ranging from the surface to 30m. However, bleaching was more extensive in corals shallower than 10-15m depth. A follow-up trip is planned for May." --Joshua Feingold <joshua@polaris.acast.nova.edu VIA <coral-list@coral.aoml.noaa.gov