World's Largest Artificial Reef Underway

Off Yucatan coast

OutsideOnline Yucatan peninsula Mexico The Guarding Serpent Caribbean barrier reef artificial world's largest coast Quintana Roo Kan-Kanán marine species 13 000 ten-ton pyramid structures drop seafloor Puerto Morelos hollow guard life construction underway underwater

Ten-ton guarding pyramids offshore (left).

Published June 5, 2014 12:00AM

More than 1,000 hollow 10-ton concrete pyramids will house some 13,450 marine species off the coast of Quintana Roo in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula when the world’s largest artificial reef is finished. Called Kan-Kanán, “the Guarding Serpent” in Mayan, the structure will cover more than a mile of seafloor and protect the coast from natural erosion.

Engineers, environmentalists, architects, and divers have worked together on the project, which also includes this dramatic video:

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