On Tuesday, a study was published on Chondria tumulosa, an aggressive algae that ravages the huge marine reserve of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
It moves faster than any other algae that has been observed so far and quickly takes cabbage on the corals that get in its way.
The thick red algae settle as a mat over the reefs and obstruct the corals' access to sunlight and nutrition.
"We've never seen an invasive species cause such big changes in such a short amount of time," Alison Sherwood, a researcher at the University of Hawaii, told AP.