The largest deep-water coral reef known so far has been mapped: it is located in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Blake Plateau off the southeastern coast of the United States, and extends over an area of over 26,000 square kilometers, at a depth between 200 and 1,000 meters.
This was revealed by the data collected over a decade through 23 underwater missions and 31 sonar detection campaigns, coordinated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The results are published in the journal Geomatics.
"For years we thought that much of the Blake Plateau was sparsely populated and made up of soft sediments - says Kasey Cantwell, chief of operations for NOAA Ocean Exploration - but after more than 10 years of systematic mapping and exploration, we have revealed one of the largest deep-sea coral reef habitats found in the world to date".
This habitat is populated by corals such as Lophelia pertusa which do not live in symbiosis with colored algae and therefore have a decidedly paler appearance than we are used to imagining, but despite this they offer shelter and protection to a large variety of fish and invertebrates.
The densest and most extensive coral masses are found along the direction of the Florida Current and the Gulf Stream, both warm currents that transport important quantities of nutrients.
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