- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
Deadly invader devastating Venezuelan coral reefs
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 told AFP.
"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."
- 'Nobody knew' -
When Ruiz-Allais first came across the invader in 2007, it was an unknown species in the Caribbean and even the Atlantic, he recalled. "Nobody knew what it was."
It was first spotted in the Mochima National Park, a gorgeous archipelago covering more than 94,000 hectares, and has since been found to have colonized most of those islands.
The first scientific report was published in 2014, and the coral was initially classified as a member of the broad Xeniidae family before it was finally categorized in 2021 as Unomia stolonifera.
From Mochima, it has spread west and east in the Caribbean Sea.
Off the northern state of Anzoategui, it has taken over the equivalent of 300 football stadiums.
The coral is spread by fishing nets, anchors, and ship ballast water.
"It is a great colonizer," Gustavo Carrasquel, director of the Azul Ambientalistas, an environmental NGO, told AFP.
- 'Unprecedented' -
The threat extends beyond Venezuela's borders: officials say Unomia traces have been found near the islands of Aruba and Curacao, and in waters off Colombia and Brazil -- where it became attached to an oil rig but was controlled.
"It is a problem that will affect the rest of the Caribbean," said Ruiz-Allais.
But nowhere has it been more destructive than in Venezuela.
"It is an unprecedented case," said Project Unomia coordinator Mariano Onoro.
Fishermen and tour operators, concerned about the invasive coral's rapid propagation, have resorted to manual extraction.
But experts say this is not advised, because broken-off fragments are transported by the tides, settling to create yet more colonies.
The privately funded Project Unomia has developed an extraction machine with a group of engineers that is awaiting government approval for testing.
Venezuela's Institute for Scientific Research and the ministry of eco-socialism have launched an investigation into the coral's rapid spread but have yet to come up with a solution.
For now, the magnitude of the problem is such that the invader's elimination appears impossible.
"What we can do is recover some areas and control it," said Onoro.
G.Teles--PC