When coral meet cables. (Stateline).Florida's Department of Environmental Protection is trying to toughen restrictions on undersea telecommunications cables amid mounting evidence that they can damage coral reefs coral reefs, limestone formations produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate (limestone). and their fragile ecosystem by swaying back and forth and knocking into them. Under the proposal, cables would be barred in areas where the ocean bed is thick with coral reef coral reef Ridge or hummock formed in shallow ocean areas from the external skeletons of corals. The skeleton consists of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), or limestone. A coral reef may grow into a permanent coral island, or it may take one of four principal forms. and teeming teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with lobsters, sponges, starfish, sea urchins and grouper grouper, common name for a large carnivorous member of the family Serranidae (sea bass family), abundant in tropical and subtropical seas and highly valued as food fish. . The cables would be threaded instead through gaps in the reef. Nearly a dozen fiber-optic cables currently wind through the reefs, linking telephone and computer lines to Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. |
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