Vast stretches of white, treelike coral forests teeming with the fish and other marine animals in the dark, bitterly cold depths of the Atlantic off the Florida coast are under threat. Team scientists realized how extensive the deep-water reefs are — and what a diversity of life they host. They have started a 10-day mission to study the coral reefs at depths greater than 1,300 feet.
Scientists started this expedition about 50 miles east of Cape Canaveral in the hope that learning more about them will bolster efforts to protect the reefs from future exploitation. It is said that they are trying to unlock the mysteries of deep reefs by studying unique species, testing their DNA and chemical compositions and learning how they survive such an environment.
John Reed, research professor with the Fort Pierce-based Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, said that while diving they experienced pitch-black and 40 degrees, and so deep and at such pressures that when you go, you’re the first person to see this part of the world.
It is told that commercial fisheries have yet to harvest the reefs, which hold promise for biomedical researchers looking for new chemical compounds to fight disease. Steve Ross, a research associate professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington who leads the research team, opined that similar reefs elsewhere in the world have been leveled by huge trawls scouring the sea floor.
