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Blacktip and Caribbean reef sharks swirl with jacks and snapper off Walker's Cay.

Ignoring the bar jacks before its nose, a tiger shark prowls the shallows in search of bigger prey.

Soft corals called sea pens, usually found at depth, and a blue cod appear in shalow waters in Long Sound reserve, where tannin-stained water blocks sunlight. Fragile ecosystems such as this are thriving in New Zealand due to federal protection.

A Red Pigfish (Bodianus unimaculatus) swims through a school of Blue Maomao (Scorpis violaceus) in the Poor Knights Island marine reserve, New Zealand. The creation of marine reserves has allowed marine life populations to increase allowing for…

A tiny blue-eyed triplefin fish, about the size of a grain of rice poses amongst its hydroid home. Poor Knights Marine Reserve, New Zealand

A moray eel emerges from a sponge at dusk, reeady to begn foraging at night. Marine reserves like Poor Knights in New Zealand protect entire ecosystems and restore surrounding seas.
Image Title = Hunting Moray Eel

Undisturbed species like this Sandagger's wrasse are part of the diverse and abundant ecosystem in New Zealand's Poor Knight reserve. Marine regions such as this have been restored thanks to fully no-take protection.

A forest of black coral, which can live for 300 years, grows in Wet Jacket Arm reserve. New Zealand's reserves offer a benchmark of such wonders, a way to guage change in the oceans.

A New Zealand Fur Seal pup peeks through fronds of kelp within its rookery. All marine mammals are protected in New Zealand, howevere in marine reserves such as this, they are one part of a healthy complext ecosystem.

Restoring balance between predator and prey, once overfished snapper eat sea urchins that had nearly denuded the reefs at Goat Island reserve in New Zealand. Creating marine reserves allows a baseline to be created for conservation.