Word meanings: science 4

The Underwater Sea-Train

1. If you put on a scuba suit and dive into the Atlantic Ocean, you may see schools of fish crowding into subway cars. Has New York added new underwater subway stops? Well, no. Not yet, anyway.
2. What you are seeing is an innovative idea in action. This is called the “sea-train”, and it’s helping millions of sea creatures.
3. Typically, marine life feed on natural coral reefs. A coral reef is a large underwater structure. It’s made from the skeletons of sea animals called coral. Unfortunately, pollution and rising water temperatures have caused many coral reefs to die. When the reefs die, sea animals that depend on them die also.
4. The sea-train was put into place to help offset dying coral reefs. In total, 2,500 old train cars were dumped into the ocean to make the underwater habitat. Although putting debris into the ocean is usually bad, these cars were first stripped of seats, signs, and other things that could contaminate the water.
5. Today, the artificial reef is thriving like New York’s Times Square at rush hour. Barnacles, mussels, and other sea animals coat the walls, ceilings, and floors—advertising abundant diversity. Seagrasses and other plants wave like impatient conductors. Flounder, tuna, sea bass, and sea turtles swim in and out and circle around the poles.
6. Other artificial reefs provide aquatic sanctuaries in oceans around the world. Twenty-five tanks were dumped into the Gulf of Thailand. A navy warship was scuttled off a New Zealand coast. For struggling sea life populations, big pieces of trash have made a splash!