Looking like something out of War of the Worlds  (the original , not the crappy Tom Cruise version) this picture really does show a Tenerife  invasion of sorts though of course not of intrastellar origin.

The black spiky things in the picture are lime urchins. In a balanced eco-system they have a very important role to play in  keeping the reefs and corals healthy but in Tenerife, the lime urchin population has exploded. They are hungry little blighters and munch their way across wide swathes of underwater landscape leaving not much edible matter in their wake. (Sort of like when my brother comes to visit)

Like the Tribbles in Star Trek  (again the original version) the urchins are insatiable and unless controlled they may end up eating the whole spaceship!!!  Aaaahhhh ….

Bumping back down to earth, the lime urchin invasion is not actually news. Plans have been afoot to curb the voracious  little buggers for some time – including turning them into a lunchtime delicacy – but as Pamela Heywood of  Secret Tenerife said:

It just goes to show you how important balance is, with the right number of the various members of the food chain hierarchy, each having their part in the “grand scheme” and, how important it is that we protect these marine areas and not keep overfishing them, nor tipping heaven knows what kinds of waste into them.

See this picture and more scuba diving photographs at the Tenerife Diving Gallery.