Bursts of ciguatera and endo-upwelling process on coral reef

We propose a significant relationship between bursts of ciguatera following disturbance on a reef area and seepages of endo-upwelled interstitial waters, rich in nutrients. Such waters cannot continue to be used by a stressed or eliminated algal-coral ecosystem and are taken up by epibenthic planktons i.e. Gambierdiscus toxicus, of which population increases sharply.