[Coral-List] disease of Diadema mexicanum

[Juan José Alvarado]

Dear colleagues:

Does anyone have information or experience with diseases of echinoids,
especially those of the genus Diadema?. During my last field trip
(yesterday) I found that individuals of various populations of Diadema
mexicanum in the coast of Oaxaca Mexico (reef communities separated several
kilometers from each other) look as if they were ill: the urchins are
loosing the spines, which first start to lose color at the tips, and
apparently they finally die,because I observed a high quantity of spines all
around the area and bare testes, also in a number I have not seen before.
I have been monitoring the reef communities of the zone and so far I have
observed the "disease" in three of them, what is more in one locality, which
used to be the more crowded with D. mexicanum now is completely urchinless.
I hope someone could contact me and help with information about this event.

Best regards

Francisco Benitez

**********************************************************************
"All animal phyla are unique, but some are more unique than others"
(Nichols, 1976) "The uniqueness of echinoderms"

Dr. Francisco Benitez Villalobos (PhD)
Reproducción y Biologia Larvaria de Equinodermos
Universidad del Mar
Km 1.5 Carretera a Zipolite
Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, Mexico
C.P. 70902
Tel. 01(958) 5843057 EXT. 111


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