Coral tissue mortality in sand patches with vs. without sea cucumber removal in lagoonal habitat of Mo’orea, French Polynesia from June to August of 2021 (Coral Biodiversity project)

Coral reefs are in global decline with coral diseases playing a significant role. Coral diseases are commonly sediment-associated and could be exacerbated by overharvest of sediment-feeding sea cucumbers. These data include visual assessments of coral (Acropora pulchra) tissue mortality among corals outplanted in natural sand patches within lagoonal areas of Mo’orea, French Polynesia (17.4894° S, 149.8825° W) where sea cucumbers were either removed or left at natural densities (n = 10 patches per treatment). Five A. pulchra corals were outplanted into each sand patch, and percent tissue mortality of each coral was assessed daily for 45 days during June-August 2021. All coral tissue mortality data were collected by Dr. Cody Clements of the Georgia Institute of Technology.