A brilliant spectrum of color

Viewed in polarized light, this thin section of the skeleton of a Pacific reef-building coral, Acropora gemmifera, looks more like abstract art. WHOI researchers are currently involved in a three-week Expedition to the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in order to study what may be the most pristine, intact coral reef ecosystems on Earth, in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA).
(Photo courtesy of Anne Cohen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)