title: Discovery of a living coral reef in the coastal waters of Iraq.
abstract: Until now, it has been well-established that coral complex in the Arabian/Persian Gulf only exist in the coastal regions of Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates and it was thought that there are no coral reefs in Iraq. However, here for the first time we show the existence of a living 28 km(2) large coral reef in this country. These corals are adapted to one of the most extreme coral-bearing environments on earth: the seawater temperature in this area ranges between 14 and 34°C. The discovery of the unique coral reef oasis in the turbid coastal waters of Iraq will stimulate the interest of governmental agencies, environmental organizations, as well as of the international scientific community working on the fundamental understanding of coral marine ecosystems and global climate today.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Diving Center, Institute for Geology, Faculty of Geosciences, Geoengineering and Mining, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg 09599, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pohl
authors.affiliation: Scientific Diving Center, Institute for Geology, Faculty of Geosciences, Geoengineering and Mining, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg 09599, Germany.
authors.forename: Sameh W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Al-Muqdadi
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.
authors.forename: Malik H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Centre, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.
authors.forename: Nadia Al-Mudaffar
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fawzi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Physics, Faculty of Chemistry and Physics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg 09599, Germany.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ehrlich
authors.affiliation: Scientific Diving Center, Institute for Geology, Faculty of Geosciences, Geoengineering and Mining, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg 09599, Germany.
authors.forename: Broder
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Merkel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D057894:Coral Reefs; D019156:Indian Ocean; D007493:Iraq; D009791:Oceanography; D012623:Seawater