Seamount Security Seamounts are a common ecosystem. Yet scientists know little about them. Each dive brings new surprises. New species are oſten discovered. Unfortunately, many seamounts are


crisscrossed with fishing lines. Divers find the lines spread around rocks and snagged on corals. Fishing boats called trawlers pull dragnets with heavy chains across seamounts. Tey hope to catch spiny lobsters and fish. But the trawling also destroys habitats. When seamounts are damaged, some species may be destroyed before we even know they exist. Life at these underwater mountains should be protected.


WORDWISE


biodiversity: the many different kinds of plants and animals on Earth or in a habitat or ecosystem


ecosystem: the plants, animals, and non-living things that make up an environment and affect each other


seamount: an underwater mountain formed by volcanic activity


midnight snapper


venus flytrap sea anemone


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