The Answer Is Blowin' in the Wind
Are Dust Gusts Killing the Corals?

Satellite view of dust storm.

Star Coral damage 1988 vs. 1998

Dryhorn and elkhorn growth in 1961 vs. 1971

Site revisited in 1988 vs. 1998

Diadema die off

Underwater photograph of the urchin Diadema on a coral head taken before 1983. In the summer of 1983 most of these urchins died throughout the Caribbean. Notice how the Diadema have kept the surface of this dead coral free of algae. Today, without the browsing of these algae-eating urchins, dead coral surfaces such as this are coated with mats of fleshy alga. Such growths retard the establishment of coral larvae.