Exciting news this morning, along with the US government’s bail-out of the stock market, was the reporting on the finding of hundreds of new species in coral reefs right off the Australian coast.
Evidently they’ve been under our noses this whole time, because the discoveries have been made in popular diving spots.
The Age reports that, among other creatures discovered on the Great Barrier and Ningaloo reefs, are soft corals, tongue-eating fish parasites, and sea-dwelling earthworms.
"Scientists say that obtaining a detailed picture of coral reef life is crucial to understanding how environmental changes, such as ocean acidification and warming, affect animals and habitat.
”If we value biodiversity and we want to manage it sustainably, we need to know what’s actually out there,’ said research leader Julian Caley, from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. ‘We need to know what’s out there to know if things are being lost.’
