An amazing discovery has been made off the coast of America, where the largest deep-sea creature in the world has been found Coral reefs. A team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) discovered a huge area that, to their surprise, contained an entire sea of cold-water coral ridges. These coral reefs have been “hiding” off the southeastern coast of the United States until now, but have now finally come to light.
The discovery was made possible thanks to sophisticated sonar mapping and analysis of data from numerous dives. As a result, an almost complete mapping of the seafloor of the Blake Plateau, located approximately 161 kilometers off the southeastern coast of the USA, has been completed. It is the largest deep-sea coral reef ever discovered.
The researchers also developed a special system for determining the number of coral mounds. As a result, it was determined that there were a total of 83,908 individual coral mounds in the area. These reefs can be awe-inspiring, up to 500 kilometers long and 110 kilometers wide, while the largest and richest coral ridges can be up to 254 kilometers long and 42 kilometers wide.
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The coral ridges on the Blake Plateau are not uniform, and their height and density vary greatly. The stony coral Desmophyllum pertusum is common in the area and the average water temperature is around 4°C. The coral reef is located at a depth of approximately 200-1000 metres, and no longer reaches sunlight, so coral must obtain nutrients from the surrounding seawater. However, coral reefs act as ecosystem engineers by providing the foundation for other species such as sponges, invertebrates and fish that live around them.
Thus, this discovery not only proves the amazing beauty of coral reefs, but also proves the richness of the entire marine ecosystem. This gives scientists the opportunity to discover previously unknown species.
source: com.iflscience
