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atomfullerene t1_izembsl wrote

Diseases are hugely important in the ocean, you just dont hear about it as much. Just to start off with, viruses are constantly infecting and destroying a significan fraction of planktonic algae. A disease very nearly wiped out sea urchins in the carribbean, another did the same to many starfish on the west coast. Canine distemper outbreaks have big effects on seals and sea lions where they occur. Seagrass wasting disease wiped out north atlantic seagrass ecosystems in the 30's. White spot syndrome had a huge effect on the shrimp industry in the 90s.

Theres a lot going on below the surface

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Twizzlers_and_donuts t1_izfg308 wrote

And you didn’t even mention all the different coral diseases affecting our reefs.

And while not a disease how about harmful algae blooms? Like red tide.

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Darwins_Dog t1_izglyim wrote

Also, red tides often end with a virus outbreak. The dense population and biological stressors make the algae very susceptible.

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regular_modern_girl t1_izhwbij wrote

There are also some pretty significant infectious diseases in humans that come from the ocean.

It’s not exactly common, but one of the more disturbing ones I know of off the top of my head is probably Vibrio vulnificans, one of several bacteria known to cause a type of infection that goes by the lovely common name of “flesh-eating disease”, or necrotizing fasciitis to be more technical, which is literally exactly as horrific as it sounds (seriously, I wouldn’t recommend a Google image search). V. vulnificans isn’t nearly as common a cause as culprits like Staphylococcus aureus (especially antibiotic-resistant varieties), and causes a distinct form called “Type II”, but it does uniquely come from exposure to stagnant saline water, which in general isn’t something a lot of people seem to consider as big of a health hazard as they do stagnant freshwater for some reason (maybe due to a mistaken belief that the salt “sterilizes” it or something because it’s a preservative? Who knows), so it’s not always on people’s radar as much when it comes to places you might pick up a horrible disease.

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