New research has uncovered a crucial clue to understanding the spread of "barrens" in the Great Southern Reef, which are threatening the reef ecosystem. "Barrens" are areas of low, or no, seaweed ...

Unlike caviar, which is the eggs of fish, the roe of the urchin is its wobbly gonads. Every year more than 100,000 tons of them slide down discerning throats, mainly in France and Japan ...

The sea urchin population explosion is a result of an imbalance in marine ecosystems, says Dr. Kumara, who heads the Department of Oceanography and Marine Geology at the University of Ruhuna.

It's assumed that large fish—believed to be a key predator of urchins—play a significant role in controlling long-spined urchin populations and in turn, barrens. However, this study found ...