Exotic marine life of Italy's 'Blue Grotto' under threat

[Wayne Harrison]

By Peter Popham in Rome
Published: 14 August 2007

One of the world's most extraordinary marine environments risks being destroyed by its popularity. The interior of Grotta Azzurra, "Blue Grotto", at Palinuro in the far south of Italy's Amalfi coast, is pitch black because of the narrowness of the cave's entrance. Yet the grotto's waters teem with exotic marine life, including giant sponges, oversize mussels and lobsters, and luridly coloured coral.

The reason marine life can survive inside the cave is because of the sulphidic springs that pipe hydrogen sulphide into its water. This provides a source of energy for the marine life, as it is a viable alternative to sunlight.

"In the pitch dark there is an explosion of life such as you can see in no other cave, a unique vision," said Professor Francesco Cinelli, a marine biologist at the University of Pisa who has been studying the grotto's ecosystem for the past 15 years. There is only one other place in the world, the experts say, where this phenomenon has been observed: in the black depths of the sea at the Galapagos Islands, at a depth of about 3,500 metres.

It was long thought impossible that life of any sort could be found at such frozen depths. But oversize, monstrous marine life like that at Grotta Azzurra is to be found there - for the same reason.

<a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2861721.ece">Full Story</a>