coral reef

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Saving Coral Reefs Could Involve a Little Sound Trickery

Coral larvae settle more often in damaged areas when sounds of healthy reef are played: study

(Newser) - Young people don't want to grow up in degraded neighborhoods devoid of the life and color that mark a healthy ecosystem. And surprise, surprise, the same goes for young coral. That's a problem because, without new life coming in, established but ailing coral reefs risk "becoming ocean...

Biggest Deep Coral Reef Was 'Right Under Our Noses'

Enormous reef off East Coast is largest deep-sea reef ever discovered

(Newser) - Scientists have mapped the largest coral reef deep in the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles off the US Atlantic coast. While researchers have known since the 1960s that some coral were present off the Atlantic, the reef's size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology made it possible...

Freezing Coral May Be Ticket to Saving Reefs

And researchers are looking into storing them on the moon

(Newser) - The future isn't looking great for corals as the marine invertebrates face rising ocean temperatures, disease, acidic water, and pollution. But MIT Technology Review reports that there's new hope in preserving them, which can bolster and revive future reefs. Researchers have been perfecting methods of cryopreserving coral, a...

Paris Olympics Hit a Surfing Snag
Paris Olympics
Hit a Surfing Snag
Dec 6, 2023 12:30 PM CST

Paris Olympics Hit a Surfing Snag

Construction of a new tower apparently caused problems before it even began

(Newser) - Tahiti's Teahupo'o "is one of the most powerful and deadly waves on the planet for surfing," in Surfer Today's view, a place that has only been surfed since 1985 but one that now features on the World Surf League's championship tour. It's also...

Another Scourge in Our Seas: Blast Fishing

The practice of dropping explosives to kill fish quickly is prevalent globally, despite being illegal

(Newser) - Despite being illegal virtually everywhere, blast fishing has continued to harm local fishing industries and marine ecosystems across the globe. The Guardian details how the practice—which uses explosives like dynamite to kill a mass number of fish for quick returns—is "thriving" in Sri Lanka while simultaneously wreaking...

Possible 'Stepping Stone' Near Titanic Could Clear Up a Mystery

Rocky reef teeming with life may hold answers on how sponges, corals move across ocean floor

(Newser) - When submersible pilot and diver PH Nargeolet detected a sonar blip near the famous Titanic shipwreck in the North Atlantic more than a quarter century ago, he suspected it pointed to another shipwreck lying in wait. The thing just looked so big. But he was wrong. "It turned out,...

That Colorful Aquarium Masks a Sometimes Dark Trade

Experts say demand for fish is contributing to degradation of delicate coral ecosystems

(Newser) - Millions of saltwater fish of all shades and shapes are caught in Indonesia and other countries every year to fill ever more elaborate aquariums in living rooms, waiting rooms, and restaurants around the world. "It's just so much fun to just watch the antics between different varieties of...

Coral Rebounds to Record Levels for Great Barrier Reef

Survey finds strong growth in large swaths, but also warns of vulnerability

(Newser) - News out of the Great Barrier Reef generally has been pretty bleak of late , so much so that the UN is considering listing the World Heritage Site as endangered. However, a major new survey of the ecosystem by the Australian Institute of Marine Science has welcome news for those worried...

Rare Coral Reef Found in Deep Pacific Waters

It's in pristine shape off the coast of Tahiti

(Newser) - Deep in the South Pacific, scientists have explored a rare stretch of pristine corals shaped like roses off the coast of Tahiti. The reef is thought to be one of the largest found at such depths and seems untouched by climate change or human activities, per the AP . Laetitia Hé...

Great Barrier Reef Just 'Gave Birth'
Great Barrier Reef
Just 'Gave Birth'
in case you missed it
Nov 28, 2021 4:33 PM CST

Great Barrier Reef Just 'Gave Birth'

Mass coral spawning is a sign of hope after bleaching

(Newser) - The conditions were perfect for what ABC Australia calls "the world's biggest sex event." From one section of the 1,429 mile-long Great Barrier Reef, marine biologist Gareth Phillips described witnessing a "magical" scene "with the water like glass and beautiful light coming from the...

There Hasn't Been an Ocean Find Like This in 120 Years
There Hasn't Been an Ocean
Find Like This in 120 Years
in case you missed it
Nov 1, 2020 1:30 PM CST

There Hasn't Been an Ocean Find Like This in 120 Years

Huge section of coral reef found at Great Barrier Reef is taller than Empire State Building

(Newser) - During the past year, the Schmidt Ocean Institute's Falkor ship has been trolling the waters off the coast of Australia, where it's found dozens of new species, including what may be the longest animal on Earth . Its latest surprise discovery is no less impressive: a section of coral...

New Seaweed Species Is Smothering Reefs

'Tumbleweed' algae is covering remote Hawaii reefs

(Newser) - Researchers say a recently discovered species of seaweed is killing large patches of coral on once-pristine reefs and is rapidly spreading across one of the most remote and protected ocean environments on earth. A study from the University of Hawaii and others says the seaweed is spreading more rapidly than...

Study on Our Coral Reefs: 'Honestly, Most Sites Are Out'
Coral Reefs in the Red Sea?
That May Be All That's Left
in case you missed it
Feb 22, 2020 7:00 AM CST

Coral Reefs in the Red Sea? That May Be All That's Left

Things aren't looking good by 2100, according to new simulations

(Newser) - "Honestly, most sites are out." That's the grim pronouncement from a University of Hawaii at Manoa researcher who looked at the likely status of the planet's coral reefs by 2100 based on projected climate conditions. Renee Setter and her team discovered that small areas of Baja...

Mysterious Killer Is Striking Florida's Coral Reefs

Scientists are racing to identify the pathogen and find a cure

(Newser) - Something is turning healthy coral into ghostly skeletons along the Florida Reef Tract. As the third-largest barrier reef in the world, the 360-mile stretch of vitally important sea life provides a buffet of nutrients for plants and animals along the state's Atlantic coast. Now, scientists are racing to find...

'Mass Mortality' Hits Great Barrier Reef, Shocks Scientists

'Unprecedented bleaching event' killed off half the coral there over 2 years

(Newser) - An "unprecedented" bleaching event struck the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, with perilously high temperatures affecting the 1,400-mile-long stretch of coral. The Atlantic notes we already knew that this occurred , but that the toll is just now being fully understood: It describes a new study published in the...

Australia Stands to Lose $42B With Great Barrier Reef's Ruin

Al Gore warns of 'profound impacts' globally

(Newser) - A new report finds the Great Barrier Reef is too "critical" to fail—which is a problem since it's already failing . The report from Deloitte Access Economics notes the reef—with a "total asset value" of $42 billion, almost half of which comes from tourism—is the...

Experts 'Despondent' Over Great Barrier Reef

Only a third remains undamaged after back-to-back bleaching episodes

(Newser) - This time there's no El Niño to blame for the Great Barrier Reef "cooking and dying," as CNN puts it. Thanks to two years of back-to-back "bleaching" (algae loss) that researcher James Kerry tells the BBC is "unprecedented," two-thirds of the world's...

Scientists Warn That Coral Reefs Face Total Wipeout

We've already lost half in just 30 years

(Newser) - There were startling colors at the South Ari Atoll just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What's left is a haunting expanse of gray, a scene repeated in reefs across...

First Photos of Reef at Amazon's Mouth Stun

But environmentalists worry oil drilling could soon put 600-mile-long reef at risk

(Newser) - Last year, scientists made an amazing discovery under the mud and muck at the mouth of the Amazon River: a long-rumored 600-mile-long coral reef. Now the first images of the natural phenomenon are emerging, captured from a sub sent 720 feet down into the murky waters off a Greenpeace boat,...

Great Barrier Reef Lost 22% of Its Coral This Year

It's the biggest one-time die-off on record

(Newser) - This year saw the worst mass die-off of coral ever recorded at the Great Barrier Reef, with the "most-pristine" parts of the reef being hit the hardest, the Guardian reports. One 430-mile section in the northern portion of the 1,400-mile-long reef lost 67% of its shallow-water coral. All...

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