28
Coral reef that 'shouldn't exist' thrives off B.C.'s Pacific Ocean, biologist says
(www.winnipegfreepress.com)
this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
28 points (96.7% liked)
British Columbia
1361 readers
27 users here now
News, highlights and more relating to this great province!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
So I think there is a bit of unfortunate wording and lack of context in this article.
the "Shouldn't exist" quote doesn't seem to be attributed to any scientist or fisherman, and I suspect is an editorial comment from someone who associates coral with the tropics.
Have a look at species like Paragorgia arborea or the Primnoisis corals, which are both common in BC waters, and even in Alaska. Much further north.
Even in the article they indicate that the threats to these species in our waters are increasing temperatures and interactions with fishing gear, because they are cold-water, low-light corals.
Lessons of the day:
Cold-water, deep sea corals exist.
They aren't here because of global warming, but they could be threatened by it.
Because of where they are, they are poorly understood and reefs of them are still being discovered.