Scientists discover why sea urchins are dying off from US to the Caribbean

[Judi Lynn]

A research team has discovered a parasite that’s been killing off sea urchins, but there’s no method to eliminate it yet

Richard Luscombe in Miami
@richlusc
Mon 24 Apr 2023 01.00 EDT

Marine biologists at a Florida university say they have solved the mystery of a mass die-off of long-spined sea urchins from the US to the Caribbean.

The scientists blame a microscopic, single-cell parasite for the die-off, which took hold early last year. Affected Diadema antillarum urchins lose their spines and suction, then succumb to disease.

The researchers, from Tampa’s University of South Florida (USF), also suspect the organism, a ciliate known as philaster, may have been responsible for wiping out about 98% of sea urchins in a similar episode in the region in the 1980s.

“I was like, ‘Yes, we have to figure this out,’ because in that 80s die-out, just the loss of this one species of urchin completely changed the fate of coral reefs,” Mya Breitbart, professor of biological oceanography at USF, told the Tampa Bay Times of the day she was invited to research the die-off in March last year.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/24/scientists-discover-why-sea-urchins-are-dying-off-from-us-to-the-caribbean