Question

In a reef off the coast of a large island, an increase in net fishing lowers the populations of most reef fish (including stoplight parrotfish, queen angelfish, yellowtail snappers, and Nassau groupers). The heavy nets also trap hawksbill sea turtles and damage corals. These animals eat sponges. Assuming the reef has a healthy population of long-spined sea urchins, what is the most likely result

Answer 1

The population of sponges would increase drastically because of the drastic reduction of their predators through the fishing. The long-spined sea urchins population will decrease because of the damage to corals in the reef environment. This is because long-spined sea urchins feed on coralline algae.

Answer 2

The sponge cover will increase.