Pulley Ridge

Pulley Ridge is a coral reef off the coast of southwestern Florida, United States The reef lies 100 miles west of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve and stretches north about 60 miles. The ridge has a range of depth from 60–80 meters Pulley Ridge was originally discovered in 1950. It was found again in 1999 by scientist from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and graduate students from the University of South Florida.

Pulley Ridge is the deepest coral reef off the shores of the continental United States. “Although deeper-water corals form reefs in the dark of ocean depths, Pulley Ridge is the deepest photosynthetic coral reef that we know of today,” said Robert Halley, USGS marine geologist.” Other reefs lie about 46 meters below sea level. During the exploration of Pulley Ridge, scientists found bioluminescent bacteria living in the reef. It is thought that this unique relationship between the bacteria and the coral is what keeps Pulley Ridge alive.

Coral reefs struggle to survive in the world today. “In the past 10 years the world has lost 25% of the known living coral reefs”. Coral reefs are particularly damaged by “…climate change, over fishing and coastal pollution”. Scientists hope that through the exploration of Pulley Ridge, they can gain new insight of how reefs function in order to better preserve other reefs.