November 12, 2026

When Zhang Yuyang, an associate researcher at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, first dived into the waters off Port City Colombo in Sri Lanka in 2023, he was surprised by what he found.

Along a 3.7-kilometer artificial breakwater, coral had grown naturally, with schools of fish sheltering around it. Following a survey, he and his colleagues identified more than 70 coral species and 114 fish species in the relatively small area.

"We usually think of artificial structures as disturbances to the marine environment. But in Port City Colombo, the breakwater had created a favorable habitat for coral and attracted marine life," Zhang recalled.

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