Marine Pandemic Threatens Sea Urchin Populations Worldwide 2025/12/11 05:21:36

A marine pandemic is driving some species of sea urchin towards extinction, with some populations already disappearing entirely, a recent study has found.

Since 2021, African diadem urchins in the Canary Island archipelago have been decimated by an unknown disease, experiencing a 99.7% population decrease in Tenerife and a 90% decrease around the Madeira archipelago.

mass deaths have also been detected in species from the Red Sea, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and western Indian ocean during the same period.

“what we have seen since 2021 is really, really concerning. We are talking about the disappearance of several species in a really short time,” saeid Iván Cano, a researcher at the University of La Laguna and author of the study.

Sea urchins, relatives of the starfish, breathe through their feet. While their spines offer protection from predators, they also provide shelter for smaller marine creatures.

Known as “ecosystem engineers,” sea urchins significantly impact their surroundings by grazing on algae, breaking down food for other animals, and serving as a food source for predators.

By controlling algal growth, they promote the survival of hard coral, which is itself the habitat for thousands of marine species.The loss of sea urchins has already been felt in Caribbean reefs,where coral cover has halved and algal cover has increased by 85%.

[Image of mass deaths detected in the Red Sea, Mediterranean and Caribbean. Photograph: Ibrahim chalhoub/AFP/Getty Images]