28th ANNUAL EASTERN FISH HEALTH WORKSHOP April 21-25, 2003 International Registry Of Coral Pathology Shawn M. McLaughlin1, Kathy L. Price1, Esther C. Peters2 and Cheryl M. Woodley3 1NOAA NOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research/Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, 904 South Morris St., Oxford, MD  21654; 2Tetra Tech, Inc., 10306 Eaton Place, Suite 340, Fairfax, VA  22030; 3NOAA NOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, Marine Biotechnology Program, 219 Fort Johnson Rd., Charleston, SC  29412 An International Registry of Coral Pathology (IRCP) was established by the Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Oxford, MD in affiliation with the Coral Disease and Health Consortium (CDHC), a multi-agency organization formed in response to the United States Coral Reef Task Force’s National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs.  The coral registry provides a centralized repository for information on coral disease, histological techniques, and related research efforts. Diagnosis of contributed specimens will be made by panels of pathologists, coral biologists, and medical and veterinary experts in the CDHC with the goal of establishing a consensus on diagnostic criteria for specific coral diseases.  Workshops to develop standard terminology for the description of coral pathology and to provide training in coral histopathology will be jointly convened by the IRCP and CDHC.  The registry is soliciting and cataloguing specimens representative of healthy and diseased corals to provide the coral research community with dynamic and valuable resources including a published atlas of coral histology and a web-accessible database.  Coral disease reprints are being compiled into a comprehensive coral disease bibliography to support the collection of archived material.  The repository of slides, tissue blocks, fixed tissues, and related photographs and reprints will be available to interested researchers for study and teaching purposes.  The success of such a registry relies upon the participation of the research community it serves.  IRCP also conducts research on histology and immunohistochemistry techniques and collaborates with other researchers in coral disease investigations.  Current projects include evaluations of various fixatives used to preserve tissues that were diagnosed grossly to be affected with white plague, black band, dark spots, and aspergillosis.  A joint goal of the IRCP and CDHC is to help streamline the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species permit process for the collection and sharing of coral samples by scientific investigators. Return to 28th Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop Return to Leetown Science Center Home Page