Algal outbreaks around the world are crowding out corals

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https://www.science.org/content/article/algal-outbreaks-around-world-are-crowding-out-corals

By ELIZABETH PENNISI, Science. 

Excerpt: Edmunds and colleagues report today in Current Biology that these algae are spreading rapidly in the Caribbean Sea and elsewhere, killing existing corals and crowding out new ones. The authors don’t have a solid explanation for the algae expansion, although warming waters or another aspect of climate change may be a driver. But they and others worry this new menace will hasten the demise of ecosystems already decimated in many places by multiple bleaching events, many also linked to climate change. ...These latest coral killers are a group of more than 140 hard to distinguish red algal species belonging to the Peyssonneliaceae family. Some scientists mistake them for coralline algae, which also form crusts on reefs but help promote growth of the living structures. Whereas coralline algae form thin, hard crusts that are pink or whitish, peyssonnelid algae make thicker, brown or dark red crusts that are often a little squishy above a hard base. Fish love to eat the former but tend to avoid the red algae, Edmunds says, allowing them to grow unchecked until they smother corals to death. Peyssonneliaceae also keep damaged coral from regenerating by preventing drifting coral larvae from settling and maturing into sedentary adult polyps.... 

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