Caribbean Reefs Take a Further Battering

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Global warming has caused coral bleaching, nonendemic lionfish are eating all the indigenous fry, stony coral tissue loss disease is wiping out hard corals, and there are more frequent and more brutal hurricanes than before; the Caribbean reefs have endured some challenges in recent years, and a new one is happening quickly.

Sea urchins are dying across the Caribbean at a pace that rivals the mass die-off in 1983, alarming many who say this could further decimate the already battered coral reefs. You see, it's the herbivorous urchin population that helps keeps corals free of algae....

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