Experts warn of ‘clear connection’ between overfishing and sponge-smothered Caribbean coral

NORTH CAROLINA, United States, Thursday May 7, 2015 – In a new study published last week in the journal PeerJ, researchers with the University of North Carolina Wilmington, who surveyed the reefs off 12 Caribbean nations, found that overfishing is having a drastic effect on coral.

By removing the few natural predators of sponges, fishermen are actively increasing the threats against already diminishing coral populations.

As aggressive competitors for resources and space, sponges have been known to use smothering, snot and toxins to kill coral, literally living on what’s left of the remains.

Read more at: Caribbean360