The Red Sea's spectacular coral reefs face a new threat, marine biologists warn—the mass death of sea urchins that may be caused by a mystery disease.
Because the long-spined creatures feed on algae that can suffocate corals, their die-off could"destroy our entire coral reef ecosystem", warned scientist Lisa-Maria Schmidt.
The team had first heard reports in January that a sea urchin species off Eilat was dying rapidly, so they went to a site known for an abundance of the species Diadema setosum.But, within two weeks, the spiny invertebrates also started dying down the coast, including in a seawater-fed facility of the Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences.
The team found that it affected two kinds of sea urchin, Diadema setosum and Echinothrix calamaris, while other species in the same environment remained unharmed.off Eilat, colorful fish and some other sea urchin species could be seen by a visiting AFP journalist—although the impact of humans was never far away.
The threat posed by the sea urchin die-off is alarming biologists as Red Sea corals have proved relatively resilient to other threats facing reef ecoystems around the world.are dying off in many other areas,"those corals are known to be quite resilient, and I think people have placed a lot of hope in those reefs".
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