WEBVTT

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So this is a really interesting
interaction here. We have an

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urchin that's been climbing up
this tall bamboo whip coral and

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you can see below the urchin,
it's all what we called denuded,

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it so all of the living
material has been stripped off

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of it and up above it, the
bamboo is still alive and so

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the suspicion is this urchin
started at the bottom and has

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been munching its way up the
top of this uh this bamboo

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coral. Really interesting
observation, Rhian. Um I'm I'm kinda

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shocked actually. I wasn't
convinced that the Echinus

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were feeding on some of these
bamboos that we've seen them on

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but boy, this sure looks like
what's been going on. I think

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this urchin has been caught red
handed in fact. Yeah. And you

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can see the polyps very close
to it are all retracted and

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further up there a little bit
more out so you can see those

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sharp spines. So this urchin
must be able to get around

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those sharp spines, it doesn't
seem to affect it whatsoever. I

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was gonna say that does not
appear to be much of a

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defensive mechanism from what
I'm seeing here. And um I feel

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like a defense lawyer for this
urchin. I keep trying to make

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excuses for it but this sure
looks like a smoking gun. It

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does. It does. It's a great
interaction to have filmed. Thanks

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so much pilots.