US EditionDeadly Pandemic Threatens Worldwide Wipe Out of Sea Urchins
The 2022–2023 mass mortality event caused a 74% to 99.7% decline in Diadema africanum populations in the Canary Islands, threatening local marine ecosystem stability.
- Researchers report the Canary Islands were struck by an unrecognized disease wiping out Diadema africanum, with severe mortality across the archipelago and Madeira in 2022–2023.
- Scientists say the causal agent remains unknown, noting mass die-offs linked to scuticociliate Philaster and past outbreaks tied to Neoparamoeba branchiphila and unusual wave activity.
- A survey covering 76 sites found a 99.7% decline in Tenerife and a 90% decrease in La Palma, with traps at four sites off Tenerife.
- Researchers warn halted reproduction on eastern Tenerife has caused Diadema populations to near local extinction, with larvae traps catching only 'negligible' larvae, threatening marine ecosystems and corals.
- Similar die-offs have appeared in other oceans, and Diadema species have died off across the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Sea of Oman, and western Indian Ocean, while the 2022 outbreak included a 2023 second wave, with researchers uncertain of its origin or future.
31 Articles
31 Articles
Sea Urchins Are Dying Worldwide and No One Knows Why
The Canary Islands may represent the “missing link” in a global pandemic killing sea urchins. Sea urchins help build and maintain marine habitats in much the same way that large plant-eating animals shape landscapes on land. As they graze and tear apart seaweed and seagrass, they limit algae and ca
ABC FOX Montana
Deadly pandemic threatens worldwide wipe out of sea urchins
An unrecognized disease, which has been wiping out sea urchins around the globe over the last four year.
Insights on the last sea urchin Diadema africanum mass mortality suggest a worldwide Diadematid pandemic in 2022-2023
IntroductionThe sea urchin Diadema africanum, a key herbivore shaping shallow benthic ecosystems of the Canary Islands, has experienced recurrent mass mortal...
Santa Cruz de Tenerife.- A team of researchers from the University of La Laguna and the Instituto de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias has shown that a massive mortality event between 2022 and 2023 has led to the near local extinction of the sea urchins Diadema africanum. This last outbreak has had a greater impact than those that occurred in 2008 and 2018, since on this occasion the production of larvae and the recruitment of …
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
