Redbird Reef is an

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many ...

located in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, off the coast of Slaughter Beach,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, east of the

Indian River Inlet The Indian River is a river and estuary, approximately long, in Sussex County in southern Delaware in the United States. The river is named after a Native American reservation that was located on its upper reaches. The Indian River rises approx ...

. Established by the Maryland Reef InitiativeDNREC Sinks Three Tugboats Off Delaware Coast to Enhance Artificial Reef; Vessels Recycled on “Redbird Reef” As Home for Fish and Sea Life
/ref> in 2001, this reef covers 1.3 square nautical miles of

ocean floor The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

and is located below the surface.Urbina, Ian
Growing pains for a deep-sea home built of subway cars
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 2008. Accessed: 10 March 2011. The reef comprises 714

Redbird Redbird, Redbirds, Red Bird or Red Birds may refer to: Bird * Redbird, another name for the northern cardinal * Redbird, another name for the summer tanager * Red bird of paradise, a near threatened species Mythological * An East Asian variant ...

(

R26 R26 or R-26 may refer to: Roads * R-26 regional road (Montenegro) * R26 (South Africa) Other uses * R-26 (missile), a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile * R26 (New York City Subway car) * R-26 (salon), an artistic salon in Paris * Br ...

– R36 series) New York City Subway cars dumped by Weeks Marine, 86 retired tanks and

armored personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Ac ...

s, eight

tugboats A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

and

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s, and 3,000 tons of ballasted truck tires. The amount of marine food has increased 400 times over 7 years. The site is the most visited reef site off

's coast, receiving more than 10,000 fishing parties annually, and is home to numerous marine species, including

black sea bass The black sea bass (''Centropristis striata'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the subfamily Serraninae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the groupers and anthias. It is found in the weste ...

, flounder, blue mussels, sponges,

barnacles A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...

, and

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

. Also,

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...

and mackerel hunt at the reef. The site has become so popular that fishermen steal from each other, and other states apply for the next subway cars to be dumped in their waters.

References

Deepwater Reef Coordinates: Reference for coordinates

External links

Exact coordinates for submerged objects
Artificial reefs Buildings and structures completed in 2001 Reefs of the Atlantic Ocean Landforms of Delaware Ecosystems Reefs of the United States New York City Subway rolling stock 2001 establishments in Delaware

See also

References

Further reading

External links