August 17, 2021 — Native coral ecosystems in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument are being threatened by an invasive species that’s become a big problem in a short amount of time.
Researchers recently completed a 20-day expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and were alarmed to see how the monument’s reefs are being impacted by a mysterious algae.
“It’s never been recorded anywhere before,” said Brian Hauk, Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research resource protection specialist. “There’s no record of it in scientific publications or journals or research books, any of that kind of stuff. Nobody knows what this stuff is.”
Little is known about the nuisance algae classified as “chondria tumulosa.”