609082 external_news 1532961529 1532961529 Coral reefs' survival from overfishing, climate change, and other threats is jeopardized by a thumbnail-sized snail that preys on the coral species that environmentalists hope could revive damaged reefs. "The Porites coral is kind of the last man standing, the last hope for some of these reefs coming back, and they are the ones these snails selectively prey on,” Mark Hay, a biologist at Georgia Tech and author on the study. “As you get fewer and fewer corals, the snails focus on the fewer and fewer of these colonies that remain. This is part of the downward spiral of the reefs."

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