Waminoa brickneri is a worm from the Convolutidae family, which belongs to the Acoelomorpha strain. While the majority of acoels live in marine sediments, some, usually identified as Waminoa sp., have been found associated with corals, living closely appressed to their external surfaces.
Similar species: Acoela
By Patomarazul
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Uploaded Aug 6, 2018. Captured May 15, 2018 10:05 in Unnamed Road, Pasirpanjang, Lembeh Sel., Kota Bitung, Sulawesi Utara, Indonesia.
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<<Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality. Not all bleaching events are due to warm water.
<<epizoic acoelomorph flatworms are parasitic. Next to suffocating coral tissue and feeding on coral mucus, flatworms have now been found to impair coral feeding.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/11/aafeature
I think that the coral bleaching is a separate phenomenon but that once the coral is bleached is debilitated and can be unable to defend itself from the flatworms. On the other hand the flatworms also stress the coral further by impairing its feeding. The corals I have seen. and that I show here. are not bleached -at least yet- but they are Waminoa-infested so this is not a good sign for the future of these corals. On the bright side I did not see all corals infested with them, thank God! I hope there is still a balance but for sure we humans are not helping with our multiple ways to pollute the sea and to contribute to the global warming :-/ Posted 5 years ago, modified 5 years ago