Race to save Sea Urchins

When last did you see black sea urchins on Tobago reefs? Anjani Ganase reports on the fate of sea urchins in the Red Sea following fatal disease in the Caribbean Scientists are in shock after discovering a mass die off event of the black sea urchin (Diadema setosum) in the Gulf of Eilat in the Red Sea over the last couple of months. On reefs that were covered in these urchins, they now encounter dead skeletons and spines on the bottom. This black urchin, which is native to the Red Sea, invaded the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal many years ago. The population which occurred in the thousands on the reefs in the Mediterranean were wiped out in July and August 2022. The first reports of the sea urchin mortality came from Greece and Turkia and was originally thought to be a localised event. While that die off did not seem a threat to the species that is invasive in the Mediterranean Sea, the rapid spread of the disease across thousands of kilometres in the Eastern Mediterr