Thriving Coral Reef Thrills Marine Research Group

Marine scientists sailing the central Pacific to study its remote coral reefs have reached an underwater Eden even more pristine than they had hoped for, according to e-mail dispatches they sent Sunday. The elaborate coral structures of Kingman Reef, an atoll about halfway between Hawaii and Australia, are teeming with tiger sharks, dolphins, aggressive snapper, green turtles and giant manta rays -- as densely packed with sea life as a fully stocked tropical aquarium.