Deepest U.S. reef found

I found this article on CNN, and being a diver myself, I thought this is neat and really opens another mystery of the deep. This reef is about 250 ft deep and is a living coral reef that is 3 miles wide and stretches for about 20 miles. Its amazing how a reef can live that deep, normally it gets kind of dark after 150ft, but there must be enough ample sunlight to reach it at that depth, considering its 3 miles wide without obstruction of caverns and sea floor walls.

www.cnn.com...

I thought that corals are animals and don't require sunlight to live, nor do the organisms they feed on?

Corals are much like plants on the surface, they require light to exist and survive, but usually when you dive on a reef, after about 65-70 feet, there is no coral, just the reef wall. They do feed off organisms, but there are so many species of coral. Majority them require light, however, the door that is open is that this living reef and coral is so deep that it has adapted to its environment and apparently unscathed/unknown to oceanographers. Its actually very interesting to the wonders of the deep. Much like our Giant Squid that no one has ever caught alive or seen a Giant Squid near the surface ever before, cause they dwell in the dark deep waters. We know they exist cause the dead wash up pn beaches or get caught in nets, but how they survive, live, breed and nunbers of are unknown.

Just found more info on that reef on the USGS website...

coastal.er.usgs.gov...


[edit on 8/1/05 by mscbkc070904]

I thought that corals are animals and don't require sunlight to live, nor do the organisms they feed on?

Actually I am an aquarium geek. I have a 400 gallon reef tank, and have many corals and invertabrates. The amount of light needed is actually a large amount. The lights I have on the tank mimic the sunlight in Kelvin degrees. Even in the small world that I have set up, corals at the bottom of the tank do not thrive anywhere near as well as at the top of the tank. This deep reef is against everything I ever thought I knew. Good post!

Yeah, I was sort of blown away when I read the article as well, thinking that deepest reef would have meant a rock wall sliding down to a very narrow cavern, but the part when it said it had a living coral reef at 250 ft, WHOA. Its amazing how the world adapts to its environment to survive and thrive. Not to mention to last as long as it has, being 3mi W x 20mi L and not even really notice it. Well of course it 250ft deep, but still.

mscbkc, I'm no expert on marine life, but it does interest me greatly.
The USGS article mentions the types of coral and other life on this reef. Are these the same types that grow on reefs in shallow waters?
What is your opinion on the fishes of Pulley Ridge that normally live in shallower waters? Are they fish that have evolved to this habitat or are they migratory?
Thanks.

Actually thats a good question DontTread. I am only assuming, but with the recent amazing discovery, marine biologist and oceanographers will definitely collect the species only to study them. Back to what i was assuming, is like any species of animal found in the world where it normally doesnt it exist, it will adapt to its environment to survive. Most likely that is what happened to the coral and marine life down there. 90% of the time when you dive a reef, when you get to 100ft or more, supposing there is a sea floor just a little further down, it looks like a desert wasteland just under water.

But for coral and marine life to exist at that depth, something had to have eveolved somewhere. My take would be that they are along the same species, but most likely larger than their ancestors so that they can adapt, cause small marine life like clown fish, would just smash at pressure that deep. And from the looks of it, this isnt something that just happened in the last 10-20yrs, more like it been evolving thru decades in order for life to be stable down there.

I am not a marine biologist, but just from a physics aspect and what I do know from marine life, its an extraordinary find and can open a whole new door in survival of marine life in the deep.

Thanks.
At least we can hope that at this depth the area won't be corrupted by over-eager folks who will ruin the area.

I hope if you see anything new you can update this topic, as it is very interesing to hear about undiscovered areas of our planet!