Creating a sea urchin ‘baby formula’ to help save our reefs

How scientists boost survival of baby sea urchins to restore fragile Caribbean coral ecosystems

April 13, 2026 by UF/IFAS Leave a comment

According to a University of Florida scientist, sea urchins are “lawnmowers of the wall”. They tirelessly chew on algae that otherwise burn corals and block reefs that rely on sunlight. When they are plentiful, these spiky grazers help keep Caribbean reefs vibrant, open and teeming with life.

But disaster struck in the 1980s. most of A species of sea urchin known as Diadema antillarum has died. Without them, the algae grew, the corals struggled and the entire ecosystem began to go out of balance.

That’s why it’s so important to help bring back urchins to reefs around the Caribbean, he said Josh Pattersonis an associate professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

Patterson runs a lab at the Florida Aquarium’s Coral Conservation and Research Center in Apollo Beach. There, he and other researchers raised sea urchins.

Like many marine species, about 99% of urchins die early in life. Therefore, they cannot be sent to the reef to act as adult urchins.

“Baby urchins scavenge for anything they can find to eat, and very little of what they eat helps them survive,” Patterson said. This is why very few of them make it to adulthood.

Even if scientists could reduce the early mortality rate by just 1%, they would be doubling the number of urchins reaching adulthood, he said. That is its aim Newly published research by Casey Hudspeth, who worked under Patterson’s supervision and was the study’s lead author.

For her study, Hudspeth fed baby urchins several diets and found that more survived by eating the scaly microalgae.

“We’re trying to create a baby formula,” said Patterson, a Florida Sea Grant-affiliated faculty member at UF/IFAS School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatic Sciences. “When we raised these urchins before, we didn’t have enough knowledge about the best way to feed them, and they scrambled for whatever food they could find in the tank.”

That diet formula will allow more baby urchins to survive.

Patterson’s lab raises baby urchins to small babies, about the size of a silver dollar, with spines. The kids then go to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the University of Miami and other partners, who continue to raise the urchins and then take them to boats and drop them off Florida reefs.

Once on the reef, the critters feast on algae and keep the reef healthy.

“These urchins are an important part of our reef ecosystem, along with Florida reef corals,” Hudspeth said. “And helping these babies grow can provide invaluable support to our fragile coral communities.”