According to the Tel Aviv University research team, black sea urchins, a species known to help maintain healthy coral reefs, were completely wiped out within two months.
The team published their findings in two peer-reviewed scientific journals.
The results indicated that a large number of these species died in the territorial waters of other countries in the region.
Researchers believe the cause is a parasite that causes a disease that causes rapid death, and may be behind the same waves of sea urchin deaths in the Caribbean Sea.
In just two days, the long-spined black sea urchin becomes a skeleton with significant tissue loss, said researcher Omri Bronstein of Tel Aviv University’s Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and School of Zoology.
The waves wash its remains onto the beach while the fish eat the remains of others, and researchers believe this promotes the spread of infection.
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