8/24/2023 0 Comments Diving ascension island![]() The team prepares for a beach-entry shore dive on the north coast of Ascension. Now, for the first time, they’re about to plunge into the clear, blue water of Ascension’s English Bay to witness this elegant natural experiment for themselves. Although they have all studied Ascension Island from afar and have published several papers about this 88-square-kilometer volcanic rock’s place in Atlantic Ocean biogeography, they’ve never actually set foot on its shores. Rocha, a curator of ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, and his Brazilian collaborators, Sergio Floeter and Carlos Ferreira, have waited 20 years for this moment. “Let the games begin,” Luiz Rocha says, as we each heft 40-plus pounds of gear onto our shoulders and begin the long trudge over volcanic boulders and through deep sand, zig-zagging around enormous craters left by nesting sea turtles during their latest bout of egg-laying. ![]() Now a team of scientific divers has taken the rare and brief opportunity to come to this rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and study one of the most poorly understood marine communities in the world-to try to figure out where these fish come from, how long they’ve been here, and how they’re making a living in such isolation. While the number of fish here is astounding, surprisingly few species have been hardy enough and lucky enough to make the long journey and settle here successfully. Editor's note: There’s a fascinating natural experiment happening around Ascension Island.
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