A favorite dish for purple sea urchins living off the coast of California is kelp. Problem is, those kelp forests are shrinking dramatically and that’s hurting the marine ecosystem. So a group of scientists ran an experiment to see if these sea urchins can themselves become a top menu item.
Just off the Monterey Peninsula, a boat sways in the ocean. Three divers get ready to jump in. They’re students from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, a graduate school for marine scientists. The assignment: Count purple sea urchins.
“Catch you on the flip side,” says Shelby Penn.
Their professor, Luke Gardner, waits on deck. He expects they’ll find plenty of urchins. And that’s not a good thing.
“What they do is they just eat everything in sight,” Gardner says.
These spiny creatures are mowing down California’s kelp forests. Kelp is a vital part of the ecosystem. It provides food and shelter for numerous animals, including abalone, rockfish and sea otters.
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