[Coral-List] sea urchin (Diadema) die-off update?

[Judith Lang]

Hi Betsy and Listers,
My apologies. I haven’t yet learned to look at how an email arrives at the coral-list, and if it says “via Coral-list,” that my response to the individual is also sent to the whole list. That is very distressful when what is intended to be private information is publicized prematurely prior to full confirmation.

Nevertheless, the recent reports about another major Diadema die-off are real. As of last week, the recently formed Diadema Response Network (DRN), an open international collaboration, has photographic evidence of diseased, dying or dead Diadema in 19 jurisdictions (i.e., countries, territories, etc.) and of absence in another 12. 

Everyone diving in the wider Caribbean area is encouraged to keep a lookout and to please share their photographs plus other observations with all on the Diadema health tracking map at www.agrra.org/sea-urchin-die-off. Reports of good health (green flags) are as important as those of demise (red flags). Some areas on the tracking map have both green and red flags: clicking on the flags will reveal that the green predates the red and the difference approximates when the disease arrived in that area.

Other ongoing and planned activities include outreach, rescue, and research into the causation of this latest mass die-off. Anyone wishing to contribute is welcome.  Diadema are important herbivores in the Caribbean; that they are now dying again, even as so many of the massive framework building and and other corals in this regions are still being ravaged by stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) suggests that, should current trends continue, key structural and functional components of our reef ecosystems will be destroyed before they can be killed by global warming.

Phil Dustan often says “it’s everything,”  and we still need to figure out how to more effectively help the young clean up this highly polluted world they’re inheriting. Actionable suggestions welcome.

Judy Lang
AGRRA Scientific Coordinator


> On May 22, 2022, at 12:19 PM, Elizabeth Sherman via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> 
> Hi listers
> Can anyone on the ground (or in the reef) provide an update about recent
> reports of another potential Diadema die-off? Is it being documented? Do we
> know its extent?
> 
> thanks
> 
> Betsy Sherman
> 
> -- 
> Elizabeth Sherman, Ph.D.
> Professor Emerita
> website <https://www.bennington.edu/academics/faculty/elizabeth-sherman>
> 
> 
> *As coral reefs go, so goes the planet.*
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