Skeletal extension, density and calcification of the reef coral, Montastrea annularis: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.

Extension (linear growth) of the coral skeleton is correlated negatively with bulk density (mass per unit volume) and positively with calcification (mass addition). Density and mass are slightly positively correlated. When compared to a pristine site in St. Croix, coral from Round Reef within Christiansted Harbor (a location of past dredging and sewage pollution) have equivalent (and high) extension but significantly lower density and calcification. On the S coast, corals from a location of major dredging activity in the past have relatively low extension and calcification. These growth anomalies are probably pollution related. -from Authors