Sea cucumber effects on sediment microbes

Sea cucumbers are fascinating creatures that play an important role in maintaining healthy coral reef ecosystems. They feed on bacteria and other tiny organisms in the sand, which helps to clean the sediment. Then, they expel the "cleaned" sediment as waste, leaving behind a healthier substrate for corals to grow on.

This study found that corals grown in cages without sea cucumbers produce chemical extracts that are less effective against coral-bleaching pathogens like Vibrio coralliilyticus than corals grown with sea cucumbers. Sediments in cages without sea cucumbers are also more pigmented, indicating the presence of more microorganisms growing there. Over-harvesting of sea cucumbers, which is common around the world, may lead to more microbial pathogens in reef sediments and increase stress to corals, making them less effective at defending themselves.

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Grayson et al. 2022