Hi! Were these ancient beavers eight feet long?? ....... http://www.christiananswers.net/dinosaurs/j-size1.html....."There were even giant beavers (eight feet long)!" (....perhaps the ate giant clams...:-) ) They found the coral reef off the Thailand Coast because of tips from fishmen.... interesting... There is a tiny pic of it on this site... http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=277718&sid=ENV LaVerne >From: "J. Ross Mayhew" <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Conchologists List <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: New Coral Reef found off Thailand!! >Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 02:34:28 -0400 > >**Had** to pass this on the list, (although i will pass on the news that >ancient beavers, sturdy and industrious national animal of Canada, once >competed sucessfully with the dinosaurs.......couldn't find a way to >make it shell related, although they may have eaten fresh water clams >along with their reportedly fishy diet): New reefs of this size and >importance are NOT discovered every day!! It would be great if a few >divers could check it out for interesting mollusc fauna soon. > >http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9942 > >Coral Reef Discovered off Thailand Coast > >/February 23, 2006 -- By Michael Casey, Associated Press/ BANGKOK, >Thailand -- A coral reef spanning several hundred acres and teeming with >fish has been discovered off the coast of Thailand and should be given >protected status, the World Wide Fund for Nature said Wednesday. > >Tipped off by local fishermen, WWF divers in January found what they say >is a healthy, 667-acre reef in southern Thailand with over 30 genera of >hard corals, and at least 112 species of fish. > >Among the fish species identified, the WWF said, was a type of parrot >fish first discovered in Sri Lanka and never before seen in Thailand, >and a species of the sweet lips fish previously only found in the >Similan Islands. > >The reef is off the coast of Khao Lak, a popular tourist destination on >the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand. > >"I believe discussions with fishermen over a wider area will lead us to >discover even more important reefs, not yet mapped or protected by the >authorities" said Songpol Tippayawong, head of the WWF Thailand Marine >and Coastal Conservation Unit, in a statement. > >"This reef is easily accessible to dive operators from nearby Khao Lak, >and if managed properly can become a prominent local dive site while >also contributing an important source of income to the local community," >he said. > >WWF said that it was working closely with Thailand's Department of >Marine and Coastal Resources, the Department of National Parks, local >communities and dive operators to ensure that the reef is properly >managed, which could lead to it being included in a marine national park. > >Sombat Poovachiranon, a marine biologist with the Department of Marine >and Coastal Resources, said the reef was not on any of his department's >maps. > >"We are looking forward to doing a survey in the area," Sombat said. >"It's quite a large area. In my opinion, this should be a marine >protected area. But we have to talk to the local communities first." > >The discovery is a dose of good news for the state of reefs, which have >been battered by overfishing, development and more recently the 2004 >tsunami, which heavily damaged them in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka >and India. > >A United Nations report in December found that close to a third of the >world's corals have vanished, and 60 percent are expected to be lost by >2030. More than a third of all mangroves have disappeared, with the rate >of loss greater than that of tropical rain forests, the report found. > >A report released Monday from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network >found that most coral reefs in the path of the December 2004 tsunami >escaped "serious damage" and should recover in less than 10 years, >though much will depend on local government's protecting marine ecosystems. > >The report found that reefs in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand >were hardest hit by massive waves with damage reaching up to 30 percent >in some places. But much like earlier studies, it found that human >activities like illegal fishing and climate change pose the greatest >risk to the future of these reefs. > >/Source: Associated Press/ > >- Ross Mayhew. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------