Sea Urchins And Parrotfish Can Save The Caribbean's Coral Reef From Algae, New Research Suggests

Nature is indeed mysterious. Who would have thought that coral reefs much depend on tiny glazers such as parrotfish and sea urchins? Thus, a new study suggests that this is what is going on in the Caribbean.

A team of scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has been measuring the feeding abilities of smaller species in the Caribbean. The finding of the new research that has been published in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that an ample amount of tiny creatures can consume algae at rates comparable to the larger herbivores.

It is great news for the coral reefs in the Caribbean, as many of which are already degraded and overgrown by algae. It already happened 30 years ago that a disease wiped out the long-spined black sea urchins, Diadema antillarum, all over Carribean wherein a grazing species coral depends on to keep creeping algae at bay, according to UPI.

As follows, the long-spined black sea urchins are slowly returning. However, the number still remains at 12 percent of the total before the die-off.

Sea urchins are the kelp eaters of the sea. They are very important for the ecological balance of the oceans. pic.twitter.com/71dgaURMXB

— Five Oceans (@allfiveoceans) January 8, 2017

A staff scientist at STRI, Harilaos Lessios, shared in a news release that, "Even those of us who had worked extensively with D. antillarum did not expect that its recovery would be so slow or that its absence would contribute so dramatically to changes in complex ecological communities such as coral reefs. Its recovery is the only hopeful ray in the gloomy prospects for Caribbean reefs."

Meanwhile, smaller sea urchins and parrotfish species are filling in. The scientists discovered that these small grazing species accounted for 95 percent of the biomass present on degraded reefs.

Thus, scientist Andrew Altieri said that, "These dollhouse-sized species came the rescue of reefs in Panama. Also, it may be important elsewhere as well," according to Phys.org.