Snowflake Coral issue and its impact on marine ecosystem
Snowflake Coral or Carijoa riisei is a type of species which has been first found off Hawaii coast in 1972 and is believed to belong to western Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Brazil. Recently It has been observed in some parts of Indian coastal region too like Andaman Niobar island, Palk straight, Gulf of Kutch and regions off coastal regoins of thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari.
It is believed that this has been migrated to other part of world including India by Ballast water of ships. Snowflake coral disturbs the marine ecosystem by acting as exotic species for the indigenous marine system. They eat out the existing black coral,algae and other species including zooplanktons. These corals prefer dark spaces in ocean and attach themselves with anything like metal or ship wreckage etc. As coral system(Black coral) is the richest region of ocean in terms of marine biodiversity, this exotic species can be a disastrous for the our ocean biodiversity.
As coral reefs helps protect the ocean from erosion and maintain the great marine ecosystem, more research and study needs to be done so as to understand the impact of snowflake coral on this and thereby the ways to mitigate the negative consequences.
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