Scientists find 'dramatic' damage to marine life near BP spill site CNN

(CNN) -- Scientists have found evidence of "dramatic" damage to deep-sea coral near the site of the Gulf oil disaster, with one biologist describing it as a shocking find that "slapped you in the face."

"This was the first time that anyone has seen a visually compelling indication of impact to deep sea animals in the vicinity of this deep-sea event," said Charles Fisher, a Penn State University biologist and the leader of a government-funded research expedition.

"We have some very compelling circumstantial evidence and that came from this expedition where we were out studying deep sea coral communities we know about, and exploring for new communities."

The research team encountered an apparently "unhealthy" colony of Madrepora -- a hard coral species -- on November 2 at a depth of 1,400 meters. While some in the coral colony appeared normal, others were covered in a "brown material" and were producing "abundant mucous," he said.

The scientists also encountered a community of soft corals nearby that also appeared to be affected. Extensive portions of the coral colonies were either recently dead or dying.

Gulf shows signs of damage to marina life





Well as we didn't know already atleast MSM is bringing it back up. This is very sad but atleast we are getting some actual reports now...

I love that MSM is reporting on it.

I also love this comment from one of the readers:

Who really cares about coral reefs? What good do they do for us?

And it wasn't sarcastic - goes to show that... well, people like this exist .

If you want to somehow visualise the corruption of our society, you don't need to, these corals do a good job . There's nothing good in these black ooze-covered branches that once used to be homes of thousands of species from microbes to sharks. All sea life starts from corals and planktons.

The pictures do say a thousand words.....

That was nature's last straw.

WOW......BP makes me sick....I just read a glowing report they put out recently about how the coral and sealife are "thriving"! I'll look for it and post it here for comparison to THIS!

I think it was very naive of people to assume that the spill was over and solved just because we could no longer see it on our beaches or on the ocean surface...

I am sure some of the oil may have naturally broke down but there certainly must be some ecological impact from the spill and cleanup dispersant dumped to break up the slicks.

A sad thing to see.

Where's that DocVelocity??

Remember how he was saying that this would be over and nothing would come of it??

What a ***** >

I'm more worried about the dispersant then the actual oil for some reason something you can't see that can kill you worries me more......

Everyone should start looking in their own backyards................The rain has fallen..........