Forty years ago, the elkhorn coral was one of the most common species in the Caribbean. Five years ago, it was listed as critically endangered. The coral’s woes are many but, aside from the warming temperatures, predators and storms that affect all corals, the elkhorn is also plagued by a highly contagious malady called white pox disease. White lesions erupt all over the coral’s branches, representing areas where its animal tissue has wasted away to leave the white skeleton.

Now, Kathryn Patterson Sutherland from Rollins College in Florida has discovered the cause of white pox disease, and it’s an unexpected one – us. We have literally landed the elkhorn in s**t.

The white pox is caused by a bacterium called