Mystery pathogen is stripping sea urchins of their flesh and turning them to skeletons -- and it's sp

[Judi Lynn]

Mystery pathogen is stripping sea urchins of their flesh and turning them to skeletons — and it's spreading fast

By Ben Turner published 30 May 2023

A mysterious epidemic that began in the Mediterranean at the start of the year looks set to wipe out all of the Mediterranean and Red Sea’s urchins, and possibly their coral reefs too.



Fish pecking at a dead sea urchin in the Gulf of Aqaba. (Image credit: Tel Aviv University)

A sudden and deadly epidemic sweeping across the Red Sea has killed an entire species of sea urchin, stripping their flesh and turning them into skeletons.

Just two months ago, thousands of black sea urchins (Diadema setosum) lived in the Gulf of Aqaba, in the northern tip of the Red Sea, keeping the corals there healthy by snacking on excess algae. Now, only their skeletons remain, after their tissue was consumed by a mysterious pathogen.

"It's a fast and violent death: within just two days a healthy sea urchin becomes a skeleton with massive tissue loss," Omri Bronstein, a senior lecturer in Zoology at Tel Aviv University, said in a statement. "While some corpses are washed ashore, most sea urchins are devoured while they are dying and unable to defend themselves, which could speed up contagion by the fish who prey on them."

Researchers spotted the first signs of the urchin plague in the Mediterranean Sea at the beginning of the year, when an invasive species of urchin began falling sick in waters around Greece and Turkey. From there, the disease appears to have spread southward through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/animals/mystery-pathogen-is-stripping-sea-urchins-of-their-flesh-and-turning-them-to-skeletons-and-its-spreading-fast

[CANADIANBEAVER69]

1. creating unaffected brood-stock

to replenish the seas after decimation? It seems like a good idea, but they don't even know what it is that is killing them off. So, what's to say after they replenish the seas with the brood-stock sea urchins, that the unknown plague comes back and just continues to spread again.
Thank you for posting this. It is another sign of our changing world, which could be devastating in the long term if humans just keep stalling on climate action. Time is running out.

[cstanleytech]

3. Its still a viable option if whatever is doing it needs to infect the urchins to continue to spread

by fish then eating the dead ones.
Then once it burns itself out they could release the urchins into the wild.

[Mosby]

2. It's bad, they need to find a resistant urchin and reintroduce it.

Epidemic wipes out all Eilat Bay urchins; coral reefs face suffocation by algae

https://www.timesofisrael.com/eilat-bay-urchins-wiped-out-by-disease-exposing-coral-reefs-to-suffocation-by-algae/amp/