[Coral-List] News about invasive octocoral XENIIDAE "Unomia stolonifera", agressive exotic soft coral species who destroy reefs in Venezuela and threatens the Caribbean !

[Ignacio Agudo]

Dear collegues & friends,

According to new recent informations provided by the "Unomia Project", of
 Venezuela (sic) “... it is an ecological catastrophe ...”, says the
director of the scientific regional initiative, who has spent more than a
decade investigating this phenomenon. The exotic invasive octocoral *Unomia
stolonifera* has colonized the equivalent of 300 football stadiums on the
Venezuelan coast of the Anzoátegui State (Central-North), according to
"conservative" estimates. The presence of this Indo-Pacific soft coral on
the coasts of the Southeast Caribbean region is considered by specialists
to be one of the deadliest marine invasions in the world: although they do
not represent a danger to humans, they are highly harmful to the
environment.

It is proven that the invader, who clings to living beings, rocks or sea
beds destroying ecosystems, was illegally introduced for commercial
purposes into the Mochima National Park, a paradisiacal group of islands
that covers more than 94,000 hectares between the States of Anzoátegui and
Sucre (Northeast). Due to their showiness, soft corals have ornamental
uses: ... a polyp with a high capacity to thrive in aquariums can be sold
between 80 and 120 dollars.

More recent findings place it about 450 kilometers from Mochima National
Park, in "Valle Seco", a beach near the town of Choroní, in Aragua State.
In addition to Aragua, the displacement of exotic coral, which travels in
fishing nets, anchors or ballast of boats, reaches other regions ("it is a
great colonizer, it literally suffocates the reefs and makes them
disappear” ... it is an "unpublished case" in the world"). There are also
reports of the presence of this species in the "Cuare Reserve", Falcón
State (Northwest), very close to the islands of Aruba and Curaçao.

The threat goes beyond the borders of Venezuela, since exotic soft corals
(of other species) have also been documented in Colombian and Brazilian
waters. In Brazil, for example, there was an invasion of a soft coral in
2018 that arrived attached to an oil platform (??) (... supposedly
controlled !). But there are no records of an invasion as huge as the one
detected today in Venezuelan waters.

The "Unomia Project", a scientific research initiative financed by private
funds, has proposed mitigation mechanisms (see "Additional informations"),
among them, a machine developed by a team of engineers that awaits permits
from the Venezuelan government to be tested.

Meanwhile, fishermen and tour operators concerned about the spread of the
species have resorted to hand-harvesting, but this scatters fragments and
gives rise to new colonies. The magnitude of the invasion is such that its
total eradication is impossible (what can be done is to recover some areas
and control it).

Researchers involved are already warning that in Eastern Venezuela fish
populations are drastically declining due to the death of reefs. It is a
social, food security, and economic problem because it is critically
compromising the livelihood of fishermen.

This bioinvasive process is a major socio-environmental problem that will
end up affecting the rest of the Caribbean.



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Original (Spanish) journalistic report:

https://elestimulo.com/ciencia/2023-04-26/un-coral-exotico-asfixia-arrecifes-en-venezuela-y-amenaza-el-caribe/?fbclid=IwAR1w0P50RjTucjh_zjd4Imv54gU1ixhq1nATYBWGkV9CRyG4SdplynY5g7k
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Additional informations:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1391001107824116/posts/3443870945870445
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Best regards,

IGNACIO AGUDO

Latin American Cnidarian Network Member Brazil
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1391001107824116/posts/2772336899690523/
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-- 
*A. Ignacio Agudo-Padrón*
Geographer, Environmental Researcher Malacologist
*CEO & Manager Editor **AM Platform*
Project "Avulsos Malacológicos - AM"
Southern Brazil  *_@/"*
Caixa Postal (P.O. Box) 22008, AC Dias Velho,
Jardim Atlântico, Florianópolis,
CEP 88095971, Santa Catarina/ SC,
Brasil
E-mail: ignacioagudo at gmail.com
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