Dead, dying coral at gulf oil spill site

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've discovered dying corals and other sea creatures in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Biologists on a research ship made the discovery Tuesday of a community of corals with numbers of recently dead colonies and others that are clearly dying, a Penn State University release said Friday.

"We discovered a community of coral that has been impacted fairly recently by something very toxic," Charles Fisher, a professor of biology at Penn State who is chief scientist on the cruise, said.

Fisher said a colony of the hard coral species Madrepora at a depth of 4,500 feet appeared to be unhealthy.

"Within minutes of our arrival at this site, it was evident to the biologists on board that this site was unlike any others that we have seen over the course of hundreds of hours of studying the deep corals in the Gulf of Mexico over the last decade with remotely operated vehicles and submersibles," Fisher said.

"We found that extensive portions of most of the coral colonies were either recently dead or were dying," he said.

Many of the brittle stars that are symbiotic partners of these types of corals also appeared to be very unhealthy, the researchers said.

Further analysis will have to be done on samples for the presence of hydrocarbons and for molecular evidence of genetic damage that could give direct evidence of exposure to oil or dispersants from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Fisher said.

However, "The compelling evidence that we collected constitutes a smoking gun," Fisher said. "The circumstantial evidence is extremely strong and compelling because we have never seen anything like this."