Blue Coral Acropora Grows Beautifully

25 December 2024 is the special day for Pokmaswas Pandanan and BPSPL Denpasar who did a coral transplantation monitoring in the middle of rainy season. Most people are reluctant to go underwater where there are high waves, speedy winds, and low visibility. But this is not the case for Pokmaswas Pandanan. They keep doing coral maintenance regardless of the weather to make sure corals grow healthy. Transplanted corals have to be taken care of algae, sponges, and other foreign materials. 

How happy they are. The corals tranplanted (Acropora digitifera) - blue coral - grow healthy.There are 11 colonies of this blue corals which the biggest is about 30 cm in diameter. It seems that this species can grow healty in Pandanan Marine Technopark. The big colonies can be fragmented to fasten the coral coverage accros the rehabilitaion areas which covers about 30 hectares. 

"Blue corals" in Pandanan Marine Technopark

On the "blue" corals, there are small fish, moving energetic and aggresive, left and right, back and forth but not beyond the colonies. The fish is reticulated dascyllus (Dascyllus reticulatus) or two-stripe damselfish. It is belong to the family Pomacentridae. It has similar fish (Indian Dascyllus/Dascyllus carneus) which is characterized by many blue dots on its head and breast. This two-stripe damselfish can reach up to 9 centimeter length. The dominant body color is grey with blue-green tail. It is territorial with members of its own species. It is hardiness and preferred by nonice saltwater aquarium owners.