Scientists identify 2022 sea urchin killer https://www.usf.edu/marine-science/news/2023/scientists-identify-2022-sea-urchin-killer.aspx
A scuticociliate causes mass mortality of #Diadema antillarum in the #Caribbean Sea https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adg3200 by @virome_girl
"After identifying the #ciliate using genomic techniques, the team grew it in the lab and performed infection experiments... When it was introduced to healthy #urchins in an aquarium tank, the urchins died within a few days – just as they did in the ocean. That sealed the deal for confirming the killer."
Scientists identify 2022 sea urchin killer
The mass die-off of the long-spined sea urchin – a loss that threatens the health of coral reefs from the Caribbean to Florida’s east coast -- was caused by a one-celled organism called a ciliate.www.usf.edu