SCTLD poses serious threats to coral reef in the Caribbean

In a little over a year, the Mexican Caribbean has lost more than 30 percent of its corals to a little-understood illness called SCTLD, or stony coral tissue loss disease, which causes them to calcify and die.

In a little over a year, the Mexican Caribbean has lost more than 30 percent of its corals to a little-understood illness called SCTLD, or stony coral tissue loss disease, which causes them to calcify and die. Experts warn the disease could kill a large part of the Mesoamerican Reef, a magnificent arc of more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of coral shared by Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

SCTLD poses serious threats to coral reef in the Caribbean. (Representational image) (AFP)