Reefscapes

WHOI coral reef ecologist Amy Apprill tends to a hydrophone setup used as part of an experiment in the U.S. Virgin Islands to study how free-swimming coral larvae pick the location where they will settle for life. The team of researchers, including WHOI biologists Aran Mooney and Joel Llopiz, found that the soundscape of a reef—the combined sounds of all animals living nearby—might play a major role in steering corals towards healthy reef systems and away from damaged ones. (Photo by Paul Caiger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)