A microscopic scuticociliate parasite caused a mass die-off of long-spined sea urchins in the Caribbean in 2022, posing significant risks to coral reef health. Researchers identified the parasite and are investigating its emergence and potential mitigation strategies. Recent reports of dying urchins
The long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum is a keystone. Coral reefs rely on healthy sea urchins to eat algae so coral can thrive. Healthy coral means healthy fish, and their positive impacts continue up the food chain.
Researchers sample and assess environmental conditions of the long-spined sea urchin. Credit: UF/IFAS “We had to act very fast. You really have to act within a week or two, or you’ll lose your chance,” said Ian Hewson, Cornell University marine ecology professor whose lab focuses on marine diseases. “These mass die-offs usually blow through extremely fast and sometimes if you get there too late, you’ll only be left with diseased animals and won’t even know what ‘normal’ looks like.”
Urchins are difficult to hand rear in aquaculture environments. UF/IFAS associate professor of restoration aquaculture Josh Patterson, in partnership with The Florida Aquarium, has learned how to hand rear the animals. His primary goal is to raise urchins for release into the wild to, but in this case, the healthy urchins helped validate the researchers findings out in the field.
“Other parasites similar to this one are known to cause disease in other organisms but have not been implicated in urchin disease outbreaks, in the Caribbean or elsewhere,” said Behringer. “It appears to act in a micropredation mechanism where it swarms the urchins and starts multiplying and rapidly eating away at them.”
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