What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Lobsters are widely accepted as the key predator of sea urchins, and this information has informed management strategies in NSW to control exploding sea urchin numbers that threaten temperate reefs.

In a new study to understand how lobsters prey on sea urchins, a camera was set up in a lobster den and sea urchins were strategically placed in it. Surprisingly, the majority of the sea urchins were eaten—not by lobsters—but by sharks. The findings are published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

This challenges existing beliefs that lobsters are a sea urchin's key predator and will help inform sea urchin management strategies moving forward to protect reefs.

"Sharks are overlooked predators of sea urchins in NSW, while the role of lobsters appears to be less than expected. Importantly, sharks easily handle very large sea urchins," lead researcher from the University of Newcastle, Jeremey Day said.

"This experiment was originally designed to show how lobsters prey on urchins, but sharks surprisingly came in and ate the majority (45%) of the tethered urchins while lobsters ate few (4%).

• Read More