In Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, where ocean warming has decimated shallow-water reefs, scientists have discovered a healthy, sprawling coral reef hidden deep under the sea.
“This newly discovered reef is potentially an area of global significance,” Michelle Taylor of the University of Essex, co-lead of the expedition, said in a statement. It is “a site we can monitor over time to see how a pristine habitat evolves with our current climate crisis.”
More than 1,300 feet underwater, the reef extends for several miles along the ridge of a previously uncharted volcano in the Galápagos Marine Reserve. “The reef is pristine and teeming with life — pink octopus, batfish, squat lobsters, and an array of deep-sea fish, sharks, and rays,” Williams said.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
The newly discovered deep-sea reef in the Galápagos Marine Reserve. (Photo Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)