Educating Atlantis Summer Guests on Coral Reef Grazers

Our education work in The Bahamas gives guests the opportunity to experience the role of sea urchins on coral reefs through a hands-on activity.

With support from the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation, we hosted an interactive booth where guests could use “Spike,” our Diadema sea urchin replica, to graze algae from a mock reef-scape. As participants moved Spike across the reef, they could see firsthand how urchin grazing helps reduce algal cover and creates space within the reef community.

This grazing plays an important role in coral reef ecosystems. By reducing algae, sea urchins can help create clean surfaces where coral larvae have a better opportunity to settle and continue to develop. Algal reduction can also decrease competition for space, benefiting corals and other organisms already established on the reef.

The activity gives guests a simple, hands-on way to connect the behavior of an individual urchin with the larger processes that influence reef health and coral recovery.

By allowing participants to become the “urchin” themselves, we can turn an ecological concept into an experience they can see, touch, and understand.