Submersible at your disposal + unexplored marine habitat = EPIC expedition !

Dr Bik -

Although the Deep-sea News team has just spent a whole weekend in exotic North Carolina, we are jealous of Dr. Alistair Dove who currently enroute to the majestic Abrolhos reef off the coast of Brazil.   He will be representing the Georgia Aquarium in an international team of scientists traversing this tropical paradise from January 20-28...

The Abrolhos are completely unique reefs: they’re the largest and southernmost in the South Atlantic and biologically very different from perhaps more familiar Pacific or Caribbean Reefs. 

You’d think they might show some similarity to Caribbean reefs, but not so, possibly because unfavourable currents and the influence of the Amazon pouring into the ocean between the two may serve as an important barrier to animal dispersal (more on that in future posts). 

There’s tremendously high endemicity there, which is to say that many of the resident critters are found nowhere else in the world.  Of key importance is the main reef-forming coral Mussismilia braziliensis, a massive species that forms an unusual bommie-like reef structure called a mushroom reef; we’ll meet this species in more detail later too.

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