Surprise Reef Support

Hope springs eternal, well not exactly, but it is refreshing that new coral reefs have been discovered in deep water off of Puerto Rico. The new reefs may be able to help nearby shallow water reefs already depleted and degraded by the usual litany of habitat loss, pollution, and overfishing.

According to a story on Associated Press International, "'the reef's existence means that struggling, shallow ecosystems in the U.S. Caribbean territory may have a better-than-believed chance at survival, because fish species thriving at a deeper level can help replenish stocks in more shallow reefs,' said Richard Appeldoorn, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, and Ernesto Diaz, director of Puerto Rico's Coastal Zone Management Program."

The full story here.