Researchers have resorted to applying antibiotics to corals to save Caribbean reefs from deadly disease, but there are fears this could create antibiotic resistance in other marine animals.
Life
September 23, 2022
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Has Started Eating This Coral Shutterstock / Drew McArthur
To combat the spread of a mysterious disease affecting coral in the caribbean, researchers hand-smear antibiotic mud on thousands of corals. Others are now dosing corals with probiotics in hopes of boosting their resistance to disease.
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) was first spotted off Miami, Florida in 2014 and scientists have struggled to understand the mysterious pathogen ever since. The disease only infects hard corals – the…