Incorporating herbivorous sea urchins in ramet culture of staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis

Since the 2006 listing of the staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, interest has increased in its culture for laboratory studies, restoration and ex situ conservation efforts. A pervasive problem in coral culture is substrate overgrowth by algae and other spatial competitors. We conducted a laboratory study to examine the utility of introducing herbivores, juvenile variegated sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus, to tanks containing small (