ABSTRACT: Disease is contributing to the decline of coral reefs globally, but the cause and pathogenesis of most coral diseases are poorly understood. Using Gorgonia ventalina and G. flabellum as a model for coral disease diagnosis, we histologically and microbiologically examined 45 biopsies of lesions resembling Gorgonia multifocal purple spots (MFPS) with the aim of forming a comprehensive case definition based on gross and microscopic morphologic descriptions and associated etiologies. Macroscopically, all lesions were small circular areas of purple pigmentation. Gross morphologies included pigmentation only (4/45, 9%), or pigmentation with branchlet expansion and fusion (19/45, 22%), sessile masses (17/45, 38%), or hard nodules (5/45, 9%). Histological morphologic diagnoses included amoebocyte encapsulation (9/45, 20%), coenenchymal amoebocytosis (6/45, 13%), melanin (17/45, 38%), and gorgonin deposition (13/45, 29%). Sixty-four percent of instances of fungi and 86% of labyrinthulomycetes were localized to grossly normal portions of the biopsy, whereas barnacles were only within lesions, and 87% of instances of algae and 82% of cyanobacteria were within lesioned area of the biopsy. Penicillium (n = 12) was the predominant genus of fungi isolated from biopsies. Barnacles were identified as Conopea sp. using molecular techniques. The pathology and etiology underlying MFPS lesions are diverse, consistent with a highly nonspecific lesion pattern rather than a specific disease. This study demonstrates the importance of microscopic examination of tissues for accurate classification of coral diseases and lesion patterns.

中文翻译：

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多灶性紫斑病的病理学，是加勒比海扇形藻Gorgonia spp的非特异性病变形态。

摘要：疾病在全球范围内助长了珊瑚礁的衰落，但对大多数珊瑚病的病因和发病机理了解甚少。使用Gorgonia ventalina和G.扇叶作为珊瑚疾病诊断的模型，我们组织学和微生物学检查病变类似的45个活检Gorgonia多焦点紫斑病（MFPS），目的是根据总体和微观形态学描述以及相关病因，形成全面的病例定义。肉眼可见，所有病变均为紫色色素沉着的小圆形区域。大体形态包括仅色素沉着（4/45，9％）或具有小枝扩张和融合的色素沉着（19/45，22％），无蒂肿块（17/45，38％）或硬结节（5/45，9 ％）。组织学形态学​​诊断包括变形虫细胞包囊（9/45，20％），共间质阿米巴细胞增多症（6/45，13％），黑色素（17/45，38％）和血红素沉积（13/45，29％）。有64％的真菌实例和86％的迷路藻类细菌定位于活检的正常部分，而藤壶仅位于病变内，青霉菌（n = 12）是从活检组织中分离出的真菌的主要属。藤壶被鉴定为Conopea sp.。使用分子技术。MFPS病变的病理学和病因学是多种多样的，与高度非特异性的病变模式而非特定的疾病相一致。这项研究证明了组织的显微镜检查对于珊瑚病和病变模式的准确分类的重要性。