@Sea - Bahamas Journey - A Quest For Drugs From The Sea

	BAHAMAS JOURNEY A Quest For Drugs From The Sea MISSION DISPATCH 5 • October 18, 2003 Dispatch by Mark Carroll - @Sea Photo-Journalist A Brief Glimpse There is nothing on this planet like a reef. A rainforest perhaps compares equally in biodiversity, but for raw primeval presence, a healthy reef is peerless. By its very nature, there is a shroud of secrecy enveloping the entire ecosystem, revealing to those who look only hundred-foot glimpses at a time. The living reef is alluring in its mystery and, at times, can be a dangerous place We slipped into the water again, today off of San Salvador, and descended through the water column in a slow-motion freefall. At 60 feet we reached the reef. Morning light moved in ever-changing patterns across the corals and sea fans. A few fin kicks with the current took us through a gnarled coral chasm that soon emerged onto an awesome, sheer underwater cliff. The coral wall dropped off below us into the abyss. Blue resonated from the seemingly bottomless depths. At 100 feet we hung weightless, life teeming on all sides. There are layers upon layers of detail on the reef. Life exists within, and relies upon, other life. A prime example are the microscopic symbionts that have taken up residence within the very corals that built much of this wall by piling endlessly on the calcarious skeletons of their ancestors. Without these symbiotic helpers, there would quite likely be no coral substrate for the sponges to attach, or the algae to encrust or the gorgonians to grasp. There are the travelers too - the fishes, the turtles, the sharks - coming and going, adding, taking, changing. It is easy to see why there is such biomedical promise here. There are endless permutations of complexities and interconnections between organisms and the chemical compounds to match. This team has proven that it can be done, that there are medicines to be found here. With this expedition, on these reefs and in the deep waters beyond, they hope to do it again. ADDITIONAL DISPATCH IMAGES [ IMAGE 01 ] [ IMAGE 02 ] [ IMAGE 03 ] [ IMAGE 04 ]