Author Archives: admin
Causative agent for die-off of long-spined sea urchin in 2022 identified 2May2023
The long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) is an important herbivore on Caribbean reefs. In 2022, there was a mass die-off of this sea urchin all over the Caribbean, echoing a similar die-off in the early 1980s. A paper reporting on … Continue reading
Sargassum blooms are here for the foreseeable future 15Mar2023
UPDATE May 3, 2023 Strange sighting among sargassum seaweed YouTube Video uploaded May 2, 2023. by Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation ——- ORIGINAL POST “A blob twice the width of the US is heading towards Florida’s coast” So reads the title of … Continue reading
Presumptive Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease on Vauxhall Reef & Environs (Barbados) 25Jan2023
UPDATE Feb 16, 2023: SCTLD or White Plague Disease? – we don’t yet know. Based on some discussion I had recently with an authority on this disease, it’s not clear right now whether SCTLD is present in Barbados or whether what … Continue reading
Disturbing news about cruise ships’ damage to coral reefs 23May2021
From Barbados Today, for May 21, 2021
“CORALL GETS GREEN LIGHT TO BUILD MARINE NURSERY” 16Jun2020
BARBADOS TODAY: CORALL GETS GREEN LIGHT TO BUILD MARINE NURSERY VIDEO FROM CORALL ON FACEBOOK
Spectacular A. prolifera in Belize 16Apr2020
Photo and more to be viewed on Fragments of Hope, Belize From About for Fragments of Hope, Belize Mission To re-seed devastated reefs with genetically robust, diverse and resilient corals that will mature to spawning age/size, and at the same … Continue reading
Stony coral tissue loss disease heading towards Antilles 9Jul2019
Stony coral tissue loss disease, first reported in Florida in 2014, is moving quickly according to a report in Science News and has reached the US Virgin Islands; view: A mysterious coral disease is ravaging Caribbean reef BY CASSIE MARTIN … Continue reading
Good News 1Feb2019: Staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis in Reef Front of Vauxhall Reef, Barbados 1Feb2019
In March of 2015 I observed Acropora cervicornis in a small area on the Reef Front of the Vauxhall Reef. According to a report by R. MacLean and H.A. Oxenford on surveys of Acroporoids on the west coast of Barbados … Continue reading
Good News 1Feb2019: Clusters of Diadema on reef front, Barbados 1Feb2019
Yesterday, I snorkelled the reef front area off of Holetown. As well as funding some quite healthy coral communities at about 15-20 ft depth, I found clusters of the black sea urchin Diadema antillarum at one spot. The GPS on … Continue reading