Scientists have found a pristine 3-km lengthy reef of big rose-shaped corals off the coast of Tahiti, in waters considered deep sufficient to guard it from the bleaching results of warming ocean waters.
The reef, which lies at depths of greater than 30 metres, seemingly took round 25 years to develop. A few of the rose-shaped corals measure greater than 2 metres in diameter.
“It’s fairly spectacular to search out such system in an excellent state of well being at that form of depth,” stated Julian Barbiere, marine coverage head of UNESCO, who supported the expedition.
A lot of the world’s identified coral reefs lie in depths of as much as 25 metres. Nevertheless, the reef off the shores of Tahiti lies within the ‘Twilight zone’ of depths between 30 and 120 metres the place there’s nonetheless sufficient gentle for coral to develop and reproduce.
The discover suggests there could also be many extra unknown massive reefs in our oceans, with solely 20% of your complete seabed mapped.
“It additionally raises the problem of how coral reefs grow to be extra resilient to local weather change,” Barbiere advised Reuters.
He underscored the necessity to map extra of the ocean ground to raised safeguard marine biodiversity.
An indication of a wholesome marine ecosystem, coral reefs shield towards the affect of storms and tsunamis, and a few species are utilized in creating medicines.