The relatively recent discovery of deep sea coral reefs a few years ago has stimulated a rush of interest and research in recent years. The big question everyone wants to know is how these reefs are formed and what these corals eat. Studies carried out by Furu Miendis on reefs up to a kilometer down on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the central Atalantic Ocean found that many of these reefs occur on large carbonate mounds. The large mounds may be up to 200,000 yrs old and they are fortuitously placed to receive direct flows of surface water which are what the researcher described as “Highways of Food” because they bring a lot of phyto and zooplankton to the deep sea corals. Visit ScienceDaily for more information on this story.
New details emerge about the formation of deep sea coral reefs
Jake Adams
Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.
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