Sharjah24 - AFP: An ominous shadow in the turquoise Caribbean waters off Venezuela comes from a deadly intruder -- a soft coral that experts say has caused one of the most destructive habitat invasions on record anywhere.
The Unomia stolonifera, native to Indonesia and the Indo-Pacific, is a pinkish type of pulse coral so called for its dance-like movements in the ocean currents.
It is a popular aquarium ornament -- pretty to look at and hardy -- with a single polyp fetching as much as $80 to $120.
But it is also a killer -- settling on native hard corals, rocks and even seagrass which it suffocates and replaces, ultimately destroying entire ecosystems.
Off Venezuela's north coast, Unomia dominates the ocean floor landscape after being introduced through the illegal aquarium trade around 20 years ago.
"This is an ecological catastrophe," said marine biologist Juan Pedro Ruiz-Allais, director of Project Unomia, named after the invader he has spent years investigating.
Fish stocks are drastically decreasing in the waters off Venezuela as native reefs, which serve as nurseries and feeding grounds, die off, he said.
"When the reef dies, when it is covered by the Unomia stolonifera, a disruption of the food chain occurs," said the biologist.
"It is a social, food security, and economic problem because the livelihood of fishermen is compromised."
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