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Crowned Sea Urchins Victims Of An Epide
Completed in early 2022, after a few months of bad weather, the first underwater study done by the Réserve Naturelle revealed that the crowned sea urchins present at specific sites were not impacted by the epizootic disease that has periodically affected this species since the early 1980’s, from Bermuda to South America. Sadly, since April 2022, this epidemic has once again been causing devastation to the sea urchins near the reefs on the French side of the island: the spines of the animals break off and their death follows. Sint Maarten and Saint Barthélemy had indicated this regrettable phenomenon as of the month of March. Since this sea urchin is the principal regulator of algae on the reefs, its growth has been out of control since the beginning of the epidemic.
