World’s largest deep-sea reef that is 6.4 MILLION acres is discovered off the coast of Florida and teeming with previously unknown species

Marine scientists have found and mapped the world’s largest known deep-sea coral reef: a hidden ecosystem about the size of Vermont full of new species.

The discovery was the laborious product of 23 underwater dives and 31 multibeam sonar mapping surveys, researchers revealed, all in aid of mapping the deep Blake Plateau in the Atlantic Ocean.

The plateau’s deep-sea, or cold-water, coral ecosystem extends nearly 300 miles from Miami, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. And its width from east to west extends to more than 68 miles in some regions.

‘Right on the doorstep’ of the US coast, these spooky hidden corals are expected to harbor a host of deep-sea creatures yet unknown to science, the researchers said.

‘Right on the doorstep’ of the US coast, these spooky hidden corals are expected to harbor a host of deep-sea creatures yet unknown to science, researchers say

“We knew there would be a lot of coral mounds to be mapped here,” said the new study’s lead author, oceanographer Derek Sowers. Living Science.

But — while marine biologists have been aware since the 1960s that the inky depths of the Blake Plateau could be home to deep-sea coral — Sowers and his team only recently had the funding and hardware to properly map these ocean depths .

The high-density coral core, with a thicket of hills about 250 kilometers long and 42 kilometers wide, was both “impressive and surprising,” Sowers told reporters.

This largest area, nicknamed ‘Million Mounds’ by the research team in collaboration with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), consisted mainly of a stony coral called Desmophyllum pertusum.

Unlike shallow ocean coral, which feeds itself partly through the photosynthesis of zooxanthellae algae, and can be damaged by the heat of climate change, D. pertusum coral filter feeds on floating biological particles, such as dead cells and microorganisms.

And like a pale cavefish, this cold-water coral is eerily ghostly white.

Sowers suspects that the densely concentrated ‘Million Mounds’ are fed by a steady flow of nutrients from the Gulf Stream, a deep warm-water current that flows north along the US east coast.

He and his team speculate that there may be even more – and potentially larger – deep-sea coral reefs hidden along the routes of similar ocean currents elsewhere in the world.

The full size of this coral network is approximately 6.4 million hectares, according to NOAA, hundreds of thousands of hectares larger than the state of Vermont, which is approximately 6.1 million hectares, according to the US Forestry Service.

“The study documents the enormous size of the coral province,” NOAA said of the new research, published this month in the journal Geomatics.

“The results,” the government said in a statement rack‘also highlight how different regions of the Blake Plateau show wide variations in the density, height and pattern of coral mound formation.’

While the deep coral mounds cover an area nearly the size of Florida and close to the Sunshine State, local conditions are nearly freezing.

Common at depths between 200 meters and 3280 meters, such as the Blake Plateau, stony D. pertusum coral thrives in the near-freezing temperature of 39 degrees Fahrenheit.

Common at depths between 200 meters and 3280 meters, such as the Blake Plateau, stony Desmophyllum pertusum coral thrives in the near-freezing temperature of 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Above, an Alfonsino fish swims alone over a thicket of deep-sea coral

Although deep-sea coral reefs are widely believed to be essential hosts for complex ecosystems, providing shelter, food and ‘nature habitat’ for crustaceans, fish and other marine life, these dark-dwelling invertebrates are still largely a mystery to science.

Unlike shallow ocean coral – which feeds partly through algae photosynthesis and can be damaged by climate change – D. pertusum coral filter feeds on floating biological particles, including dead cells. Like a pale cavefish, this cold-water coral is eerily ghostly white

Although deep-sea coral reefs are considered vital hosts for complex ecosystems, providing shelter, food and ‘nature habitat’ for crustaceans, fish and other marine life, these dark-dwelling invertebrates are still largely a mystery.

“This strategic, multi-year, multi-agency effort to systematically map and characterize the stunning coral ecosystem just off the East Coast of the US is a perfect example of what we can achieve when we pool our resources and focus on exploring the approximately 50% of the American east coast. marine waters that remain uncharted,” said Derek Sowers, Ph.D.

Sowers, assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire and lead author of the study, added: ‘About 75% of the global ocean remains unmapped in detail, but many organizations are working to change that. This study provides a methodology aimed at interpreting mapping data over large ocean areas to understand seafloor habitats and advancing standardized approaches to classify them in support of ecosystem-based management and conservation efforts.”